Country portrait
Morocco
North Africa
Documenting civic-space narrowing, press-freedom restrictions, and accountability gaps in Morocco — and supporting defenders working at risk.
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Our position on Morocco
We call for the release of imprisoned journalists and activists in Morocco, an end to the prosecution of expression under the penal code, and the protection of associations facing arbitrary administrative obstacles.
— HuMENA
The Region, Connected
No country in MENA stands alone.
This country sits at the centre of the threads HuMENA follows — across borders where defenders flee, refugees move, and accountability converges.
Signature
Where our work concentrates here.
Five strategic areas — Civic Space, Defenders, Digital Rights, Governance, Diaspora. Bar height shows the depth of HuMENA's coverage in that area for this country.
Civic Space
Defending freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
Defenders
Protection support and case advocacy for defenders at risk.
Digital Rights
Surveillance accountability and digital safety for civil society.
Governance
Fair-trial monitoring, judicial independence, and inclusive governance.
Diaspora
Cross-border protection and amplification of exiled voices.
Chronicle
A working record of our interventions.
Statements, reports, advocacy moments, defender cases. Chronological. Growing.
Dec 2025
PRESS RELEASES
Oct 2025
JOINT STATEMENTS
May 2025
LEGAL & POLITICAL ANALYSIS
Sep 2024
JOINT STATEMENTS
Feb 2023
JOINT STATEMENTS
Feb 2023
JOINT STATEMENTS
Jun 2022
JOINT STATEMENTS
Jun 2021
JOINT STATEMENTS
Jan 2021
JOINT STATEMENTS
Aug 2020
JOINT STATEMENTS
May 2020
JOINT STATEMENTS
At the international level
Where this work meets the institutions.
HuMENA carries documentation into the mechanisms with the most leverage — UN bodies, EU institutions, and joint civil-society coalitions.
UN UPR
Civil society submissions on press freedom and association
UN Special Procedures
Communications on detained journalists
EU Parliament
Briefings on rights conditions
Defenders
The people behind the work.
HuMENA stands with human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and activists. Where their identities can be public, we credit them. Where they cannot, we protect them.
Under restriction
AE
Ahmed Ettanji
Journalist and president of Équipe Média, a media organization documenting human rights violations in occupied Western Sahara.
Ahmed Ettanji is a Sahrawi journalist who founded Équipe Média to break Morocco's information blockade. He was expelled from Cape Bojador in…
DetainedAI
Al-Hussein Al-Bashir Ibrahim
Sahrawi human rights monitor and university student; documents discrimination and abuses facing the Sahrawi community in Morocco.
Al-Hussein Al-Bashir Ibrahim is a Sahrawi human rights monitor who has endured years of racialized abuse, medical neglect, and repeated punitive transfers…
Under restrictionEA
El Hussein Amaadour
Former student movement leader; member of the Sahrawi Center for Culture and Thought; advocate for Sahrawi students' rights and self-determination.
El Hussein Amaadour is a Sahrawi student organizer and advocate for self-determination, imprisoned for leading university protests. He is held in Bouizakarne…
SentencedIbtissame (Betty) Lachgar
Clinical psychologist; co-founder of the Movement for Individual Liberties (MALI); feminist and LGBTQ rights defender.
Ibtissame Lachgar is a clinical psychologist, feminist, and co-founder of MALI, an organization defending individual freedoms. She was arrested after posting a…
ReleasedIL
Ismail Lghazaoui
Agricultural engineer; pro-Palestine activist coordinating boycott campaigns against companies linked to Israel.
Agricultural engineer and pro-Palestine advocate imprisoned for two months for social-media posts supporting boycotts of companies linked to Israel. Released February 2025…
MM
Maâti Monjib
Historian and journalist; President of Freedom Now; co-founder of the Moroccan Association for Investigative Journalism.
Maâti Monjib leads associations defending press freedom and investigative journalism in Morocco. Convicted in absentia in 2021 of threatening state security, he…
Publications
Reports, statements, and analyses.
On Human Rights Day 2025: Civic Space in the Middle East and North Africa under Systematic and Sustained Pressure
Morocco End the crackdown on peaceful protests and uphold the right to demand social justice
How Civil Society Organizations in North Africa Can Thrive Under Authoritarian Regimes
The AIMC must end its role in transnational repression, say NGOs
HuMENA and 24 CSOs express deep concern about Ireland’s recent decision to designate Egypt , Morocco and Algeria as safe countries of origin
Joint Letter to the Prime Minister of Morocco condemning the Extradition of Hassan al-Rabea
Joint Letter to the Prime Minister of Morocco condemning the Extradition of Hassan al-Rabea
Joint statement on the second anniversary of the death of the lesbian and queer activist Sarah Hegazy/ WANA Lesbian and Queer Woman’s Pride Day
A joint statement recognizing the first anniversary of the death of lesbian activist Sarah Hegazi and announcing the inauguration of a Pride Day for Lesbian and Queer Women from the Middle Ea
Bahrain: Open letter to Danish Prime Minister to take immediate action to free Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja
FACEBOOK ADMINISTRATION TO TAKE FURTHER MEASURES TO LIMIT THE SPREAD OF HATE SPEECH AGAINST THE LGBTQI+ COMMUNITY IN THE MENA REGION
Yemen: Over 150 NGOs appeal for death sentences of four journalists to be overturned
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