Arrest of prominent human rights activist in M'hamid El Ghizlane:

Casablanca (Morocco), June 12, 2010: The judicial Police in Casablanca arrested Friday Dr. Abbas Mohammed Sheikh Sibai, whom observers considered a prominent and active in the defense of human rights in southern Morocco, particularly in the region of M'hamid El Ghizlane.

Sibai has been arrested from a hotel in the city, where he was taken to police headquarters before being handed over to a special task force of the Moroccan gendarmes, with his family unable to know the reasons for his arrest, according to human rights sources.

Dr. Sibai had been arrested February 2, 2006 by Moroccan gendarmes and rendered to 6 months imprisonment in force by the Court of First Instance in Zagora, and was reduced to 3 months by the court of appeal in Ouarzazate, southern Morocco.

He was released on March 10, 2006 after entering into an open hunger strike lasted for 39 days and the organization of peaceful protests in solidarity with him across the world.

source: (SPS)