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F. I. DENOUNCES RABAT
VERDICT The US of the Fourth International issued the following statement on the Rabat trial in Morocco.
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"The Fourth International denounces with indignation the scandalous verdict in the Rabat trial against the militants of the vanguard belonging to the Union Nationale des Forces Populaires of Morocco.
"The eleven death penalties, which included Mohammed Basri. Moumen Diouri, Omer Ben Jelloun, imprisoned since last July, and Ben Barka, who was already condemned to death for expressing solidarity with the Algerian revolution, constitutes a new stage in the only real plot involved in this case-the plot of the neo-colonialist Moroccan authorities against the movement which has conducted the struggle in recent years against French imperialism and sought to win genuine economic and political independence for the Moroccan masses.
"The Rabat trial has placed a glaring light on the plot masterminded by the Moroccan monarchy following its stinging electoral defeat. The defense exposed the torture practiced by the police on the defendants, the violations of judicial procedures, and especially the denial of the right of defense to bring in French attorneys in accordance with Moroccan law. After some weeks of battling these deliberate, illegal procedures of the court, the lawyers and the defendants ceased to participate in what had become a mockery of justice.
"Together with the odious death sentences, the court made a repugnant effort to divide the defendants.
"The Fourth International, in sending its greetings to the defendants, appeals to the world workers' movement and the liberation movements of the colonial peoples to indicate their feelings about the scandalous Rabat verdict and help save the lives and win the release of those militants of the Moroccan vanguard."
15th March 1964