Morocco Arrests 8 Policemen over Torture Death

Morocco has arrested eight policemen for allegedly torturing to death a prisoner, newspapers reported on Monday.

The state prosecutor in the central city of Casablanca ordered the detention of the policemen on Saturday, reported Assabah and al-Ahdath newspapers.

They were accused of torturing a person, with the use of violence leading to his death, the reports said.

The casacity.ma website said that the victim, a young Moroccan man, had been arrested by police in August while under the influence of narcotics and held in a police cell.

He was later taken to hospital where he died. An autopsy showed the death was due to injuries he suffered in detention.

The central police authority in Casablanca had said the young man died of a self-inflicted head injury when rammed his head into the gate of the police station.

Amnesty International issued a special report in May in which it detailed what it described as "endemic" torture in Morocco where the law nevertheless prohibits such practices.

"Beatings, stress positions, asphyxiation, simulated drowning, psychological and sexual violence are among an array of torture techniques used by Moroccan security forces to extract 'confessions' to crimes or silence activists and crush dissent," said the rights watchdog.