Moroccan activist awaits verdict for protesting US arms shipments to Tel Aviv
An Ireland-based human rights organization has condemned the “criminalization” of a Moroccan pro-Palestinian activist who has been sentenced to one year in jail after he peacefully protested US support for Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, calling for his “immediate” and “unconditional” release.
Front Line Defenders made the appeal in a post on X on Wednesday, as Ismail Lghazaoui from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) is awaiting a final verdict by the Casablanca Court of Appeals after being charged with "inciting crimes and misdemeanors through electronic means" last December.
“We call for his immediate and unconditional release, and to cease the targeting of pro-Palestinian activists and human rights defenders in Morocco, which infringes directly on their civil and political rights,” the group said.
#Morocco
— Front Line Defenders (@FrontLineHRD) February 4, 2025
Tomorrow, 5th February, the Casablanca Court of Appeals will determine the fate of pro-Palestinian human rights defender Ismail Lghazaoui.
In October 2024, Ismail was arrested by Moroccan police while on his way to a demonstration in front of the US Consulate in… pic.twitter.com/qvon8fQ65I
Lghazaoui was arrested by Moroccan police in October 2024 on his way to a demonstration in front of the US Consulate in Casablanca, in protest of Washington’s support for Israeli’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
The trial of Lghazaoui was postponed several times after his arrest.
In December, the Casablanca Court of First Instance sentenced Lghazaoui to one year in jail and a fine of $500 for inciting violence, after he urged a public blockade on the US embassy for providing weapons to Israel amid the Gaza war.
BDS Morocco said at the time the public prosecutor failed to clarify the nature of the misdemeanor or crime that Lghazaoui was accused of inciting, "which makes the prosecution legally invalid."
The Casablanca Court of Appeals is set to issue the final verdict against Lghazaoui on February 5.
"We condemn this arbitrary ruling and consider it a punishment for Ismail Lghazaoui's solidarity with the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights," said the pro-Palestine group.
Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas conducted Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
During more than 15 months of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war against the people of Palestine, more than 61,000 were killed, most of them children and women.
On January 15, the Israeli regime, failing to achieve any of its war objectives, including the “elimination” of Hamas or the release of captives, was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
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