There has been increasing tension between Moroccan miners and the owners of pits at Imini over the issue of restructuring the mining system, putting jobs at risk. Several miners have been arrested in what local human rights groups say is a violation of freedoms. Most prominent among those arrested is Khouya Mohamed, a unionist and member of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights.
This tension is expected to rise after the announcement 31 October 2004 that a Moroccan magistrate has closed the file of the Imini Ouarzazate mines, thus canceling what was meant to be an appeal at the Court of Appeal at Ouarzazate, scheduled for 11 November.
According to the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, the magistrate did not even bother calling all the witnesses and that the whole procedure was done so quickly that the defendants could not formulate their defense in time. (albawaba.com)
