By Mawassi Lahcen for Magharebia in Casablanca – 07/06/11
In the latest wave of pro-reform rallies across Morocco, demonstrators on Sunday (June 5th) marched in honour of February 20 Movement protestor Kamal Amari.
Marchers at the front of the rallies held up large portraits of Amari, who died in Safi on Thursday (June 2nd), allegedly at the hands of police. Protestors demanded that the police involved in his death be punished. Contrary to the previous two weeks, security forces did not confront the demonstrators.
Following Amari's death, Safi witnessed massive demonstrations on Sunday, with people calling for political reforms, an end to corruption and a democratic constitution with credible elections. Meanwhile in Rabat, thousands marched in defiance of a protest ban. Casablanca, Fez, Tangier, Marrakech and other cities also saw reform rallies.
Demonstrators held up black flags and banners to express their grief. Some also carried coffins to symbolise Amari's funeral. Others chanted slogans demanding the trial of his alleged killers, while condemning authorities for using violence against peaceful protestors.
However, local authorities in Safi denied that Amari died after being attacked by security forces, claiming that his death was due to an illness in his lungs, resulting in suffocation and cardiac arrest.
The official version of events contrasted with claims by eyewitnesses and members of Amari's family, who insist that he died after being beaten by security forces during the May 29th reform protests in Safi.
"Seven security men stopped my brother after demonstrations had ended and battered him severely all over his body, resulting in several wounds, the most serious of which was one at the back of his head," Kamal's brother, Abdul Nabi Amari, told Magharebia. "Worried he might be arrested and tortured again, Kamal did not go to Mohammed V Hospital, and preferred to seek treatment in a private clinic."
"However, his condition deteriorated and was eventually transferred to Mohammed V Hospital, where he died in much pain. The family keeps pictures and videos showing the wounds and bruises sustained by Kamal which resulted in his death," his brother added.
The National Council for Human Rights, appointed by King Mohammed VI last April, announced the formation of a commission to investigate the causes of Amari's death.
Additionally, the public prosecutor in Safi appointed medical examiners to run a forensic autopsy on Amari's body and determine the cause of his death. Their report concluded that the cause of death was "extensive pneumopathy with the brain receiving no oxygen", according to a press release from the prosecutor.
The statement added that lung disease "exacerbated the effect of a non-complex chest bruising, and led to death in the absence of early and appropriate treatment". Following the release of the coroner's report, the public prosecutor asked the judiciary police to conduct an investigation.
"The autopsy report included an explicit recognition that the cause of death was an assault against Kamal Amari, though it tried to circumvent the issue by claiming that the lung disease exacerbated the blows received by Amari on his chest," commented Hassan Benajeh, a spokesperson for the Justice and Charity Association, of which Amari was a member.
"We, the February 20th Movement, have enough evidence, pictures and videos, and certificates, which we put at the disposal of independent human rights associations, and which clearly show the attack on Kamal that led to his death," Benajeh said.
