From: jisrawi@physics.rutgers.edu (najeh jisrawi)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: The king Hassen DOS in a French court?
Date: 8 Nov 92 16:08:25 GMT
Article-I.D.: romeo.721238904
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science



Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: FRANCE: Moroccan king faces defamation charges in French court


paris, oct 16 (ips/pablo azocar) -- three french citizens who
spent 18 years in moroccan prisons before recently being released,
have taken king hassan ii of morocco to court on defamation
charges.

this is the first time in history that a foreign head of state is
being tried by an ordinary french court. the event coincides with
the holding of municipal elections this friday in morocco.

the brothers midhat, bayazid and ali bourequat, of french
nationality, appeared friday before correctional chamber 17 of the
paris court, which agreed to examine a charge of defamation being
brought against the moroccan monarch and the conservative paper
'le figaro'.

in an interview with the newspaper earlier this year, the king
accused the three brothers of being spies.

the bourequat brothers were working as merchants in rabat when in
1973 they claimed they were kidnapped by the moroccan security
forces, jailed and severely tortured.

they spent 18 years behind bars before being freed last december.
the three were never tried, and no concrete charges were ever made
against them, according to humanitarian organisations.

for the last 10 years of their imprisonment they were held
'incommunicado' and in complete darkness in the dreaded tazmamart
prison. their situation was described by amnesty international as
''a living death''.

this prison was closed as the result of international pressure
after the bourequat brothers were released.

the brothers are once again living in paris, and claim that they
are still having difficulties with their eyesight because of the
years they spent in darkness.

the lawsuit stems from an interview granted by king hassan last
january to 'le figaro' in which he declared ''it was a mistake''
for the moroccan government to have released the bourequat
brothers. ''their punishment should have been greater,'' the king
said.

it was ''one of those complicated cases involving espionage,
false numbers, arms trafficking and intelligence agents of a
foreign power'', hassan was quoted as saying in the paper.

the youngest of the three brothers, ali bourequat, 54, who was 35
at the time of his imprisonment, said friday that ''what is
incredible is that only through this interview did we find out
what we were accused of... because not once was any charge ever
formulated against us. (more/ips)

france: moroccan king faces defamation charges in french court(2-e)

france: moroccan (2)

''we are bringing this charge ... to defend our honour and
dignity, and so that the whole world may know that hassan ii is a
cruel man who must be dragged by force to justice,'' said ali
bourequat.

the moroccan embassy here in paris has not commented on the
issue.

the case was to have been heard originally last june, but it was
postponed to august at the request of the moroccan authorities,
who asked for the documents to be translated into arabic.

a further postponement was granted in august -- the last
permitted by law.

moroccan writer moumen diouri accompanied the bourequat brothers
and their lawyers to the hearing on friday ''to follow at first
hand an extraordinary case in which three men learnt of the
charges laid against them only through the press, after spending
18 years in prison and being tortured''.

diouri, one of the most renowned opponents of the present
moroccan regime, maintains that ''the case of the bourequat
brothers is also astonishing because it is one of the few of this
type in which hassan ii allowed the prisoners to live, even if he
now regrets having done so.

''the bourequat brothers can thank allah they are alive, because
hassan ii usually never lets enemies he considers dangerous off
with their lives,'' he added.

''i, for example, admit i'm a man involved in politics, but the
bourequat brothers had absolutely nothing to do with politics.
their only crime was that as merchants they used to move in
circles frequented by the nobility in morocco, therefore they came
to know too much, they knew the 'secret gardens' of hassan ii,''
diouri claimed. (end/ips/hr/pa/ego/tt/cpg/92)