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Morocco: Protest after union leader assassinated

From International Viewpoint, 11 June, 1997

Police in Agadir failed to prevent a workers' demonstration on 8 June, called to protest the recent abduction, torture and assassination of trade union leader Abdellah Mounacir.

Despite police agression, the steadfastness and determination of the demonstrators prevailed, and they continued their march to the house of the deceased, where trade union and human rights group speakers denounced Mounacir's abduction and murder, and supported his family's demands for continued pressure on the authorities to produce, and put on trial, those responsible.

The bound corpse of Abdellah Mounacir was found in Agadir harbour on 31 May, four days after the local trade union leader had been kidnapped by unidentified men in the village of Ait Melloul. According to family members, his body bore the signs of "monstrous torture," which he had suffered before his death.

Born in 1956, Mounacir was a lifelong political and trade union militant. At the time of his death he was General Secretary of the sailors union Syndicat des Marins et des Officiers de la Haute Peche, affiliated to Morocco's Confederation Democratique du Travail. A founder member of the union, Mounacir was, from 1993 to 1997 its (unpaid) full-timer. He edited the union's newsletter, "La Boussole" (Compass), and "Agadir-Syndical." An active member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), he had created its working group for the abolition of the proposed new labour code.

He was also active in left politics, always with the perspective of the construction of a socialist workers' party in Morocco.

Messages of support can be sent to the Mounacir family at no.1, rue 491, Lotissement des Marins, Cite des Amicales, Agadir, Morocco. Tel/fax (+212 8) 22 88 28