| Farewell to Idriss Bin Dhikri: The lofty symbol of struggle for human rights | Date: 24-05-2007 |
| Author: CIHRS | |
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The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) is announcing with great sorrow and anguish the death of prominent Moroccan human rights activist and statesman Idriss Bin Dhikri, who passed away yesterday at dawn after a long and bitter struggle with illness. His death represents an enormous loss, as he was one of the instrumental figures and a symbol of struggle for freedom and human rights in the Arab World. CIHRS sent a condolence message to King Mohammed Sixth, Moroccan Monarch, to the Advisory Council for Human Rights and to a number of key Moroccan figures and human rights organizations. The deceased represented a model of self-giving and sacrifice for the corroboration of noble values of human rights; he was recently appointed as president of the Advisory Council for Human Rights. He paid seventeen dear years of his life inside one of the secret prisons during the period known in Morocco as "the years of bullets", which witnessed flagrant abuses that hit thousands of Moroccans. Bin Dhikri contributed concerted efforts to the establishment of the human rights movement in Morocco, as he was one of the founders of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights and vice president thereof before he launched his initiative to institute the truth and equity forum. The latter imposed on the agenda of the Moroccan state the issue of the "ancient file" of serious human rights breaches in Morocco during the period 1956 up to the mid-seventies. This period witnessed various species of torture, arbitrary arrest, forced disappearance and physical liquidation of political opponents. Efforts of the forum, led by Bin Dhikri, in cooperation with several Moroccan organizations and the Advisory Council for Human Rights, urged the Moroccan state to set up an independent institution for reconciliation and equity. Late Idriss Bin Dhikri was the head of this institution. This step and the ensuing outcome thereof represented an unprecedented event in the Arab World in the realm of transitional justice and on the track of real severance with this pattern of violations, and an unambiguous indication of the Moroccan State's political will for reform. This institution exerted strenuous efforts for 18 months to unmask and document facts regarding crimes committed during this era, to expose such crimes to public opinion, organize open and public hearing sessions for victims and their relatives, televise them, adopt a bundle of procedures to compensate victims both materially and morally, draw lessons and offer suggestions for legislative amendments geared toward preventing the repetition of this pattern of crimes and serious violations. While CIHRS recognizes the huge loss that the human rights movement both in Morocco and the Arab World have suffered with the death of Idriss Bin Dhikri, it also realizes that the values and principles he dedicated his life to fight for will remain as landmarks on the track of all fighters aspiring for human rights enhancement in our Arab World. |
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