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Nawal Benaissa, 36 yeards-old, is a mother of 4 who joined Hirak early on and became one of its main female leading voices. She took part to several protests with her husband and children and has been very active on social media. Her Facebook profile gained more than 80 000 followers, before authorities asked her to shut down during one of her detention in custody. She was arrested and held in custody for few hours four times between June and September 2017. This last time she was sued and on mid-February 2018, she was sentenced to 10 months suspended sentence and a fine of 500 hundred dirhams for inciting to commit an offence (by speech, cries or threats made in the places where public meetings, either through posters exposed to the public or by any means fulfilling the condition, advertising, including electronically, on paper and by audio-visual channel, if the provocation has not been followed by effect. Article 299 of the penal code). Her lawyer has appealed the sentence, the Court of Appeal has yet to rule. Benaissa responded to the court's decision on her Facebook page by expressing her continued support for the Rif protests. "I am proud to take part in the protests in the region and I denounce the imprisonment of Hirak activists. I demand their immediate release," she wrote. Few weeks ago, she moved from the northern city of Al Hoceima to another Moroccan city in order to flee harassment from authorities.

Press Release

Amnesty International launches world’s biggest human rights campaign

Women human rights defenders around the world are facing unprecedented levels of abuse, intimidation and violence, said Amnesty International as…

November 28, 2018

Press Release

Mexico: Amnesty International urges president-elect to take action for human rights during his first 100 days

Amnesty International launched a campaign today urging President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador to take concrete measures during the first 100…

November 28, 2018

Press Release

Israel: ‘Rogue’ NSO Group must have licence revoked over controversial surveillance software

Amnesty International is taking legal advice in order to revoke the export licence of Israel-based NSO Group, after it was…

November 28, 2018

Press Release

Haiti: Authorities must avoid excessive use of force during protests

In response to the violence in Haiti following the Petrocaribe protests, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said:

November 27, 2018

Press Release

US government endangers asylum seekers with unlawful policies

Unlawful US border policies are leaving thousands of asylum seekers stranded in Mexico, where they are facing threats of deportation…

November 26, 2018

Report

Papua New Guinea: Australian and PNG leaders must act urgently to save lives on Manus Island

The misery of indefinite detention in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is pushing increasing numbers of refugees and people seeking asylum…

November 21, 2018

Press Release

Syria: Thousands of digital activists to track how US-led air strikes destroyed Raqqa

Thousands of digital activists around the world will take part in an innovative new crowdsourcing data project Amnesty International is…

November 20, 2018

Press Release

Twenty-Nine Families Ordered Released from Dilley Detention Center

In an extraordinary move, twenty-nine families seeking a better life have been ordered released from the South Texas Family Residential…

November 20, 2018

Press Release

Reports of torture and sexual harassment of detained activists in Saudi Arabia

Several Saudi Arabian activists, including a number of women, who have been arbitrarily detained without charge since May 2018 in…

November 20, 2018

Migrants seeking for asylum in the United States await near the US-Mexico border at El Chaparral crossing in Tijuana, Mexico on May 7, 2017. (Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images)

Press Release

Court Grants Temporary Relief to Desperate Families Seeking Asylum

In response to a court decision temporarily blocking the Trump administration from denying asylum to people seeking protection arriving between…

November 20, 2018

Press Release

This World Children’s Day, Children Must be Safe and Free from Detention

Ahead of World Children’s Day on November 20, Amnesty International is calling for all children currently being held at the…

November 19, 2018

A Yemeni woman sits next to blankets and upholstery distributed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to those affected by the conflict in the country, in the coastal town of Hodeida, on April 11, 2018. (Photo by ABDO HYDER / AFP) (Photo credit should read ABDO HYDER/AFP/Getty Images)

Press Release

UN: Hodeidah’s embattled civilians on a knife-edge as Security Council discusses Yemen

Petrified civilians in Hodeidah face a likely onslaught unless the UN Security Council acts today to press the warring parties…

November 16, 2018