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[edit] Controversy about support for Torture
In the op-ed of the 176th issue of telquel, Ahmed Benchemsi asked whether the use of torture by the Moroccan secret services against alleged terrorists could be seen, in the future, as having been a "necessary evil", "because the nation would have survived (terrorism)", adding "some would say that this is the only thing that counts, some would disagree" [1]. Even if this paragraph featured a controversial debate rather than the author's opinion, it gave birth to a longstanding controversy, as Benchemsi was accused of supporting the use of torture. Yet many other editorials he wrote clearly demonstrate that he doesn't. In this one[2], he writes that not only torture is highly condemnable, but that it is dramatically inefficient to stop terrorism. In this other one [3], Benchemsi breaks the story of Moroccan citizens tortured to death in Moroccan Police station, and condemns the Moroccan authorities who not only kept silent, but promoted one of the murderers to a higher position in the security services. The police officers who committed the murders that Benchemsi denounced where namely exposed in his defunct magazine Nichane. None of them was punished. Instead, Nichane was closed a few weeks later as a consequence of its financial asphyxiation by the government [4]. In addition to those editorials, Benchemsi's magazines published cover stories on human rights organizations' reports revealing/condemning the use of torture in Moroccan secret prisons (like this one:[5], and other which namely exposed torturers [6]. It is also worth mentioning that Benchemsi received awards from the European Union for advocating democracy and human rights[7][8].
[edit] External links
