Dear Friends of Ali Aarrass,
Since the last update, we have been very busy in support of the family of Ali Aarrass, and have now exhausted our funds (bank details below, for those who can make a donation). To give you just some idea of campaigning pressures:
* A British MP’s attempt to visit Ali has been rebuffed by the Moroccan government;
* Ali’s treatment in prison has improved somewhat since his hunger and thirst strike;
* Ali’s Belgian lawyers are tking the Belgian government to court for its failure to offer consular protection;
* the Cassation Court hearing of his appeal is still a remote prospect; and
* Ali’s case gets full-page coverage in leading Belgian daily Le Soir.
MP refused visit
Jeremy Corbyn MP’s request to visit Ali in Sale II prison at the end of September was refused, just days before it was due to take place. The reason given for the refusal was that visits were restricted to family members – an extraordinarily harsh restriction for someone with no family in the country, as the MP observed in his statement. Farida Aarrass and Luk Vervaet were already in Rabat, and Farida managed to visit Ali twice. They also met with the Moroccan Human Rights Commission.
Belgian government in the dock?
Ali’s Belgian lawyers have begun a legal action to compel the Belgian state to provide consular assistance, consistently denied on the basis that he is also a Moroccan national. In August 2013, when Ali looked to be on the point of death after ten days of a thirst strike and nearly four weeks on hunger strike over his arbitrary and oppressive treatment in prison, Belgian foreign minister Reynders wrote to his Moroccan counterpart seeking an assurance that Ali’s human rights and dignity were being respected in prison. That intervention had immediate effects, with the harshest restrictions lifted and the Moroccan Human Rights Council allowed access to Ali. The Foreign Ministry in Brussels claims to be monitoring the case and following up on Moroccan promises. But it still denies that Ali has the right to consular assistance, and that is what Ali’s lawyers want to challenge – not just for Ali but for all the other dual nationals held in north African prisons.
Ali’s appeal to Morocco’s highest court, which cites many serious irregularities in his trial, shows no sign of being heard over a year after the appeal court upheld his conviction – and until it is heard, Ali cannot seek transfer to a Belgian prison to serve out his sentence.
Press publicity
On 1 October, Belgian daily Le Soir carried a full-page article on Ali, headed ‘Is Belgium going to concern itself with Ali Aarrass? It features horrific drawings of some of the ways Ali was tortured, and reports sympathetically on his case and the Belgian government’s failure to protect him. The paper has taken up Ali’s case before, and its intervention has helped bring it to a wider audience.
Funding appeal
The legal costs continue to mount, and the fares for visits to Ali in prison are a huge burden on his family. Any financial contributions would be very welcome indeed. You can do an electronic bank transfer to the Friends of Ali Aarrass, account number 65583960; sort code 089299.
Thanks –
Frances Webber
