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SHADOW OF IMPUNITYTORTURE IN MOROCCO AND WESTERN SAHARA17“When the prosecutor pleaded in court, it became clear that the issue was my client’spolitical views. The prosecutor’s whole argument was an assault on Che Guevara, Lenin andMarx!” 8The pervasive nature of torture and other ill-treatment is particularly salient in the followingaccounts by students arrested several months earlier as security forces dispersed a protest ona different campus of the same university in Fes. On 14 January 2013, security forcesdispersed a peaceful occupation of university administration offices by students calling foraccess to new dormitories. Several students arrested that day on the Fes-Saiss campus spokeof security forces using excessive and unnecessary force against protesters and bystandersalike. They told Amnesty International that security forces beat them immediately followingarrest and during interrogation to force them to sign statements incriminating them inoffences, including “sequestration” of university administrators during the occupation.Student Mohamed Fizazi, 22, who was present when the security forces dispersed theprotest, died in hospital on 25 January 2013, days after security forces reportedly assaultedhim. Local human rights activists and his family said they had been approached byeyewitnesses who spoke to them on condition of anonymity. They said the eyewitnessesclaimed that as many as eight officers assaulted Mohamed Fizazi, beating him on his head,chest and body. In a media interview, the deceased student’s relative explained his family’srequest for an independent autopsy. 9 His family told Amnesty International that they were notable to confirm whether such an autopsy had taken place, adding that they had not receivedan autopsy report. They said that the authorities announced an investigation into MohamedFizazi’s death after the family lodged a complaint with the General Crown Prosecutor at theFes Court of Appeals, but that they neither informed them of findings nor made such findingspublic. 10On the day of the protest, security forces arrested second-year masters’ student AbdelghaniMoummouh on campus. He said he was not involved in the occupation and believes he wastargeted as he is a member of the Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan opposition Islamist movement. He toldAmnesty International that security forces abused him and other students after arrestingthem:“Security forces beat me inside a police van… They hit us with wooden sticks on our headsand sensitive parts of our bodies. I was in that van with two other students. They made us lieon our bellies while they beat us, five of them in addition to the driver. They showed nopity… They also threatened us with rape.” 118Interview, Fes, 11 June 2013.9“Maroc: La famille de Mohamed Fizazi réclame une autopsie” [excerpt from Fes News feature], 23January 2013, https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=mHMspyKM4YI10Interviews, Fes, 1 May 2013; see also “Report of the Al Karama Human Rights Forum about the deathof student Mohamed Fizazi”, 31 January 2013, http://www.maghress.com/hibapress/9705011Interview, Fes, 1 May 2013.Index: MDE 29/001/2015 Amnesty International May 2015