Rabat - Amnesty International’s Morocco section has organized a symbolic protest yesterday, December 10th, in front of the parliament building in Rabat under the slogan “We move, we unite for change.”
This movement, according to Amnesty, comes within the activities of the global campaign for Amnesty International's "Letter Writing Marathon" which started from 06 until 17 December 2013. This “Letter Writing Marathon” aims at encouraging a maximum number of people to write letters about the International Human Rights Day, letters to governments responsible for arbitrary detention, torture, killing, kidnapping and various other threats practiced on people who peacefully exercise their right to express and defend their views and beliefs.
Each year Amnesty adopts cases of men and women around the world whose rights have been violated and urges people to sign petitions and write letters in an attempt to increase the pressure on governments and get the victims out of darkness. These letters and petitions are at the same time for those involved and their families, a sign of solidarity and a strong gesture to counter oblivion. These petitions and letters should not be under-estimated, for they have saved many lives before.
Among the victims that Amnesty adopted this year are:
Miriam Lopez from Mexico. She was arrested by masked soldiers without any charge. She was tortured and raped then sent to prison waiting for a sentence but she was released later without investigating on who were her rapists though, she says, she could recognize some of them.
Jebeur Mejri from Tunisia. He was arrested and sentenced to 7 years prison because his writings on the internet were considered to be “a threat to Islam” and “morality” and not a simple expression of view.
Hakan Yaman from Turkey. Coming back from work, Hakan passed by a demonstration against police’s violence but he was violently attacked by the police who thought he was one of the protesters. As a result, Hakan lost his sight and got broken and burned
Nabi Saleh villagers from the occupied Palestinian territories. The villagers organize a weekly peaceful march but they get attacked violently by the Israeli army. The latter declared the village an enclosed military region took the villagers agricultural land and changed their water source into a tourist resort. The army also uses different weapons like tear gaz and arrests children.
13 Bahraini political opponents from Bahrain. They were arrested since 2011 for expressing their views in peaceful demonstrations. They were sentenced from 5 years to life long prison. They got stripped off their clothes, tortured for about an hour every day and put in solitary confinement. They suffer from different illnesses but get no treatment.
The 3 polotenaians from Russia. Vladimir Akimenkov, Artiom Saviolov and Mikhail Kosenko have been arrested in a demonstration at the Polotenaia square in Moscow for different charges though they demonstrated peacefully. After their release their health has deteriorated dramatically because of detention conditions.
Setting a day to commemorate, educate, sensitize, and reflect on the principles of human rights is an essential point to find out the status of human rights in world’s countries, both at the level of gains and potential declines, and express aspirations for a better future in which human rights prevail as a concrete reality in the whole world. Amnesty took the initiative of giving a street performance dealing with one type of human rights which is widely violated in Morocco, woman’s right. The performance’s aim was to sensitize people to the violence women suffer everywhere, either at home, in the street or at work. The show was given by volunteers who perfectly depicted women’s daily life problems.
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