On 29 December 2020, as he enjoyed lunch with a friend in the Moroccan capital of Rabat, Maâti Monjib was kidnapped by eight plain-clothes police officers. A prominent academic, journalist and historian, Monjib had for years been the object of constant persecution and police harassment for “threatening the internal security of the state”.
He had been brought to court more than 20 times since 2015, though never convicted. In October 2020, a new investigation into Monjib was launched, over accusations of money laundering.
Though he had never missed judicial summons, the 60-year-old was taken, without an arrest warrant, from his lunch to the El Arjat detention center. Nearly a month on, Monjib remains detained, and has been unable to see his family due to COVID-19 restrictions in the prison – while his lawyers report that they still do not have access to the file, despite a hearing scheduled on 20 January.
