Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - REPORT_NO330, March 2003

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 123. The Committee last examined this case at its March 2001 meeting [see 324th Report, paras. 60-62]. On that occasion, the Committee expressed the firm hope that the decisions of the Rabat Court of Appeal and of the Court of the First Instance of Rabat concerning the events which took place in September 1999 during the social dispute at the Avitema farm would be reached without delay and again requested the Government to communicate these decisions to it as soon as they had been handed down.
2. 124. In a communication dated 25 September 2002, the Government stated that the ruling of the Court of the First Instance of Rabat had been upheld in one case (that of Mr. Abdesslam Labied) by suspending the detention and still imposing the fine. In six of the cases (those of Mrs. Naïma Dkiki, Nouzha Hafidi, Touria Al Maoui, Samira Ouchak, Ghannou Al Otmani and Saadia Zaïri) the Court of Appeal suspended the one month suspended sentence whilst still imposing the fine. In two cases (those of Mrs. Jemaa Dkiki and Mr. Mohammed Ikour Laabidi Lhaj), the Court of Appeal handed down a two-month suspended prison sentence; a fine seems to have been imposed in only one of these two cases. In one case (that of Mr. Mohammed Choukri), the Court of Appeal handed down a two-month custodial sentence and imposed a fine. The Committee notes, according to the information with which it has been provided, that in one case (that of Mr. Abdelkader Khatri), the Court of Appeal pronounced a suspended prison sentence and imposed a fine but that the precise duration of the sentence was not given comprehensively. The other prisoners were given a two-month suspended prison sentence and fined. Finally, the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the Court of the First Instance administering the costs jointly to all the defendants.
3. 125. The Committee takes note of this information. It regrets that some workers at the Avitema farm who had enjoyed conditional release have been given suspended prison sentences and that even in one case, a custodial prison sentence has been given. Furthermore, it notes that according to the information provided by the Government, the Court of Appeal had suspended some sentences to one month’s suspended sentence or upheld the suspension of the sentence; it is however difficult for the Committee, on the basis of the information provided by the Government, to understand the precise significance of this “suspension”. Generally, the Committee cannot reach entirely objective conclusions without the text of the judgement handed down in the appeal; it was for this reason that it requested at its previous examinations to obtain a copy of the judgement and that it urges the Government once again that this document finally be submitted to it. Moreover, the Committee notes that the Government does not provide any information regarding the prosecution for assault and battery brought in accordance with the Penal Code before the Court of the First Instance of Rabat in the cases of Mr. Abderrazak Chellaoui, Mr. Bouazza Maâche and Mr. Abdeleslam Talha. The Committee expresses the firm hope that the Court has already handed down its decision or that it will do so in the very near future. The Committee requests the Government to ensure that it receives a copy of the judgement in question.