MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) 鈥� A well-known Moroccan activist who led protests decrying the government鈥檚 earthquake response on Monday was sentenced to prison in a case that human rights advocates condemned as arbitrary and politically motivated.
Said Ait Mahdi, the 32-year-old president of one of the earthquake-stricken region鈥檚 leading activist groups, was sentenced to three months behind bars and ordered to pay more than $1,000, his attorney Isaac Charia told The Associated Press. The activist was facing charges including defamation, assault and inciting an unauthorized demonstration.
The 6.8-magnitude left a trail of destruction in the Al Haouz region, killing nearly 3,000 people, leveling homes, schools and health centers, and leaving mountain roads unnavigable.
Ait Mahdi is the first activist from the region to face such a sentence. Protests have intermittently erupted in towns and villages, with demonstrators accusing local and regional officials of mismanaging while or temporary shelters awaiting to return to their homes.
Charia said defendants facing similar charges to Ait Mahdi's typically receive one year of prison time, and noted the three-month sentence was less than he feared. Three other activists facing similar charges were acquitted late Monday evening 鈥� the group's third court appearance since they were arrested in December.
Civil liberties advocates in Morocco denounced Ait Mahdi's arrest. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights in a statement called it arbitrary and said it was in retaliation for his activism on behalf of the earthquake-stricken region and its people.
A group of NGOs and left-wing political parties, the Local Coordination for the Defense of Freedoms and the Right to Organize, last month said the charges amounted to efforts to 鈥渃onceal the serious violations鈥� against victims that resulted from the government's flawed earthquake response.
In a statement following Ait Mahdi's arrest, the coalition organizing his defense called for his immediate release and condemned 鈥渢he use of repressive tactics ... to retaliate against activists."
The earthquake exacerbated that have long plagued parts of Morocco dominated by indigenous minority groups. In places already lacking the infrastructure of the country's rapidly developing coastal cities, it damaged more than 60,000 homes and at least 585 schools, according to government estimates. Morocco has pledged more than $11.5 billion to aid in recovery and reconstruction over the next five years, allocating funds to rebuild households and offer cash aid to displaced families.
In addition to staging protests in towns and villages near the epicenter such as and Talaat N鈥橸aacoub, activist groups have demonstrated in larger cities. Last month, the Civil Coalition of the Mountain, a group of NGOs and associations from the earthquake region, demonstrated in the capital Rabat in front of Morocco's parliament, calling attention to the 鈥渟low pace of reconstruction鈥� 16 months after the earthquake.
The group had previously called Ait Mahdi 鈥渢he voice of the oppressed and earthquake victims." Hundreds demonstrated outside the Marrakech court where he was tried last month, holding up his portrait and calling for his release.
The Associated Press
