Case History: Karima Nadir
On 8 September 2015, human rights defender Ms Karima Nadir was interrogated by the National Brigade for the Judicial Police in Casablanca. The interrogation concerned a report prepared by the NGO Privacy International.
Karima Nadir is the Vice President of the Association des droits numériques - ADN (Association for Digital Rights), which works to defend internet freedoms and freedom of expression, and focuses on privacy and surveillance issues.
On 8 September 2015, human rights defender Ms Karima Nadir was interrogated by the National Brigade for the Judicial Police in Casablanca. The interrogation concerned a report prepared by the NGO Privacy International.
The human rights defender was interrogated for approximately five hours, on the basis of complaints submitted by the Ministry of the Interior regarding the report “Their Eyes on Me”. The report was prepared by Privacy International. ADN, who had no involvement in the drafting of the report, solely intended to provide testimonies for the report and open a discussion on the risks of Internet use. Nevertheless, Karima Nadir was accused of “false denunciations”, “depreciating the efforts of the state”, and “insulting authorities.”
In May 2015, before a press conference held by Privacy International and ADN to launch the report, members of the security forces were outside the premises of the Association marocaine des droits humains – AMDH (Moroccan Association for Human Rights), where the conference was taking place, to check the documents of everyone entering the conference. However, soon afterwards all but three of them left the street and the conference was able to go ahead.
The targeting of human rights defenders and their organisations in Morocco has intensified over the past year. This includes, in particular, restrictions on the exercise of the right to freedom of association and of peaceful assembly, including bans on sit-ins, demonstrations, conferences, trainings and private meetings. An example is the case of Mr Hicham Mansouri, project manager at the Association marocaine pour le journalisme d'investigation - AMJI (Moroccan Association for Investigative Journalism), who has been the target of threats and intimidation, verbal and physical abuse, as well as legal harassment and persecution for his legitimate work in defence of human rights.
