A student arrested during Morocco’s youth-led protests has been sentenced to one year in prison, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.
The case marks the first publicly known prison sentence linked to the kingdom’s Gen Z demonstrations, which have been held near-daily between late September and last week to demand social and political reforms.
The student was charged with “participating in an unauthorised and unarmed gathering” and “insulting the judicial police by providing false information”, lawyer Mohamed Nouini said.
“The ruling is unfair, and we will appeal,” he added, arguing that sit-ins did not require authorisation as per a Supreme Court precedent.
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The lawyer said his client was arrested on September 30, three days after the protests erupted in the North African country.
According to a report by news website Hespress, citing another lawyer, the student’s arrest was “an unfortunate coincidence” as he was in Casablanca for a family visit.
The other lawyer, Mohamed Lakhdar, told the judge the student had “not insulted” police nor provided false information, telling them he “was just a student”, according to the report.
Hundreds were arrested during the early days of the largely peaceful demonstrations.
Some cities had seen spates of violence and acts of vandalism, while authorities have said three people were killed by police acting in “self-defence” during clashes in a village near Agadir.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has said roughly 550 people are facing prosecution on suspicion of joining the protests, with some still in detention.
The organisers of the online-based movement behind the nationwide protests, the GenZ 212 youth collective, remain unknown.
The collective has called for “peaceful sit-ins” on Saturday and demanded the release of those arrested during the demonstrations.
The protest came after the deaths of eight pregnant women during Caesarean sections at a hospital in Agadir.
But protesters have also demanded reforms to the education system and a change of government.