On 26 and 28 June 2018, a Casablanca court sentenced 54 people to heavy prison terms for their involvement in the Hirak El-Rif protests that took place in the northern Rif region of Morocco in 2017. On 21 August, 11 of them were granted a royal pardon. Four of them were provisionally released in June and July 2017; the other 39 are serving their sentences in Casablanca’s Ain Sabaa 1 (Okacha) prison.
On 17 December, Casablanca’s appeal court will hear the cases of the remaining 43 individuals convicted in the second session.
