Morocco took part, at the Vatican on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in the 13th session of international convention of Ministries of Justice, organized at the initiative of Sant Egidio community under the topic of death penalty.
In his intervention on this occasion, Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi has reviewed different progress being made in the field of justice by the Moroccan Kingdom, highlighting that death penalty remains, however, a big topic for debate between society components, and which is considered as key point of the penal justice reform undertaken since several years as an open major project to make it in compliance with ratified international conventions.
This major project complies also with deep national dialogue on the judiciary system reform, with recommendations made by Equity and Reconciliation Authority as well as with observations and problems raised by field practices, as has disclosed Minister Ouahbi during the conference attended by the Moroccan Kingdom Ambassador to the Vatican Mrs. Rajae Naji Mekkaoui.
Minister Ouahbi has observed that “the orientation of Moroccan penal policy reflects the Moroccan Kingdom’s positive interaction with the UN resolution number 77/2002” about death penalty, as adopted by human rights committee in April 2002, which invites all countries that apply death penalty with much rigor, to reduce progressively number of punishable crimes of death penalty, and stay with application of existing capital punishment in the perspectives to abolish it completely and inform the public about its application.
On the other hand, expected guarantees by Moroccan law comply with those adopted by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution number 1984/50 dated May 24 1984, as has reminded Minister Ouahbi, considering that Moroccan justice deals with capital punishment with much rigor and rationality, in a way where annual rate of condemnations is blow 10 cases. Up-to-date, the number of persons sentenced to capital punishment has reached 83, among them 81 men and 2 women, Mr. Ouahbi has clarified.
According to the Minister, royal amnesty plays a primary role in establishing a balance of penitentiary policy and the restriction of number of persons condemned. A total of 156 cases have been registered between 2000 until today.
In waiting for the outcome of the public debate between foes and supporters of capital punishment, penal policy has leaned on the implementation of many measures to achieve a progressive reduction according to a restrictive approach.
Minister Ouahbi has seized this occasion to present penal code procedure which relates to the creation of an efficient mechanism delineating condemnation to death penalty by subordinating it to a unanimous agreement of the justice instance deciding on the case.
Sant Egidio community aims, through these regular meetings on death penalty topic, to create a platform of dialogue and exchange of views between different ministries and players of justice in the area.