Tribute in Rabat to human rights defender Abdelaziz Bennani, former member of Morocco’s truth commission and first president of EuroMed Rights…
Moroccan and international senior officials, activists, journalists and human rights defenders will gather in Rabat on 9th of December 2017 to pay tribute to Mr. Abdelaziz Bennani, a renowned human rights figure, at the national and international levels. The ceremony is held by the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), within the framework of its multi-activity plan to celebrate the Human Rights Day (10thDecember).
Mr. Bennani is a former member of Morocco’s truth and reconciliation commission and a founding member and former president (1992-2000) of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights (OMDH) that was established in 1988.
Mr. Bennani is a lawyer, member of the Casablanca Bar of Lawyers, since March 1965. He was active in several coalitions defending prisoners of opinion in the sixties and the seventies. He also served as an administrator of the Arab Institute for Human Rights and vice-president of the International Federation of Human Right Leagues (FIDH).
A collective book will be published by the CNDH on this occasion with contributions from Mr. Bennani’s friends and companions.
Indeed, the book includes testimonies of current and former ministers, current ambassadors, and members of Morocco’s truth commission, journalists, lawyers, well-known Moroccan and international human rights defenders, etc.
Also in the book, there are testimonies from colleagues who helped create, along with Mr. Bennani, the Euro-Mediterranean Network of Human Rights (EuroMed Rights now) in 1997 (Mrs. Eva Norström -Sweden and Mr. Baheyedine Hassan -Egypt), in addition to papers from Mr. Michel Tubiana (France) and Mr. Marc Schade-Poulsen (Denmark), president and director of EuroMed Rights, respectively.
Mr. Bennani chaired the Euro-Mediterranean Network of Human Rights until 2003.