A Moroccan student arrested during a wave of youth-led protests has been sentenced to one year in prison, marking the first publicly known jail term linked to the country’s recent Gen Z demonstrations, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.
The protests, which began in late September and continued near-daily until last week, were sparked by social grievances and calls for political reform. Organized primarily online by the anonymous GenZ 212 collective, the movement has drawn thousands of young people across the country.
According to the student’s lawyer, Mohamed Nouini, his client was convicted of “participating in an unauthorised and unarmed gathering” and “insulting the judicial police by providing false information.”
“The ruling is unfair, and we will appeal,” Nouini said, arguing that sit-ins do not require prior authorisation under a precedent set by Morocco’s Supreme Court.
He said the student was arrested on September 30, three days after protests erupted nationwide. Nouini maintains that the student’s presence in Casablanca at the time was unrelated to the demonstrations.
A separate report by local news outlet Hespress, citing another lawyer, described the arrest as an “unfortunate coincidence”, noting the student had been visiting family in the city. The second lawyer, Mohamed Lakhdar, told the court that the student had not insulted police or provided false information, asserting he simply told officers, “I’m just a student.”
Hundreds of protesters were detained in the early days of the largely peaceful demonstrations. While most protests remained calm, some cities experienced isolated incidents of vandalism and violence. Authorities have confirmed that three people were killed in a village near Agadir, allegedly in clashes with police who acted in “self-defence.”
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) reports that approximately 550 individuals are currently facing prosecution in connection with the protests, with many still in custody.
The GenZ 212 movement, which operates anonymously through social media, has called for another round of peaceful sit-ins on Saturday, and is demanding the immediate release of those detained during the protests.
While the demonstrations were initially sparked by public outrage over the deaths of eight pregnant women during Caesarean sections at a hospital in Agadir, they have since broadened to include calls for education reform, improved public services, and a change of government.
AFP
