During King Mohammed VI’s rule since 1999, Morocco, as a constitutional monarchy located in North Africa, has undergone important reforms concerning the protection of individual rights and liberties. Despite these improvements, however, human rights are still under substantial threats and rights violations regular occur, especially with regard to freedom of speech and academic freedom. Freedom of speech for both academics and non-academics is most frequently restricted on subjects such as the rule of the king, the Western Sahara conflict, and the politics of Islam. Law enforcement and university administrations regularly violate rights in relation to expression and activity on these issues.

Politically active student groups, organized on campuses around the country, are often confronted with disciplinary and punitive measures from their own universities. In May 2024, 15 medical students were suspended from three faculties of medicine located in Rabat, Oujda, and Tangier. The students had been boycotting classes since January 2024, protesting the joint decision of the Ministries of Health and Higher Education to shorten medical education from seven years to six. Students mobilizing on more directly political issues have faced even harsher treatment. Students in Morocco have been protesting the normalization of relations between the states of Morocco and Israel since 2020, when Morocco re-established diplomatic ties with Israel. In the last four years, many Moroccan universities have established collaborative ties with Israeli universities, which have come under increased scrutiny since October 2023 and the subsequent emergence of a global student movement calling for boycotting Israeli educational and cultural institutions that are complicit in genocide against Palestinians. In one case, in April 2022, Ibn Tofaïl University closed the campus for three days in order to prevent “The Jerusalem Forum”, which included a series of events critical of normalization of relations with Israel. More recently, in July 2024, the Dean of the Higher School of Technology of the Hassan II University confronted a student wearing a keffiyeh during graduation and refused to grant her the reward she had won. 

Other students protesting similar issues have also faced police repression, such as those protesting the decision of Abdelmalek Essaadi University to shut down its campus for four days in order to prevent a conference on Palestine from taking place. The students were first attacked and dispersed by police forces, and then arrested on March 21, 2024. Although students were later released, they recounted having undergone abuse while under detention. In another similar incident, on March 23, 2023, the police raided Hassan II University in order to disperse students protesting the normalization of relations between Israel and Morocco, injuring 53 students in the process.

The youth protest wave in late September 2025 was one of the most important events in the past few years in terms of student mobilization as many students around the country took to the streets in protest of funding cuts in public healthcare and education. During and in the aftermath of almost a week of protests, a total of more than 2,400 people were charged over their participation in the protests and nearly 1,500 arrested or detained. According to Human Rights Watch, three people were killed and dozens injured by the Moroccan police and the Royal Gendarmerie during their crackdown on the protestors. One of the people killed was Abdessamade Oubalat, a cinematography student at the Ouarzazate Film Institute, who, according to Le Monde, was shot in the head by the police in what they called an act of “police misconduct.”

Alongside students mobilizing on political issues, faculty who were critical of the government faced state repression. One such scholar is Maati Monjib, a critic of the Moroccan government and human rights activist, who was first arrested and subjected to an unfair trial in 2020 and 2021. Despite having been released in March 2021, Dr. Monjib has faced continuous harassment by the Moroccan authorities, including having his bank accounts frozen and his travel documents seized, including not just his Moroccan passport but also his French passport as a dual citizen. In March 2023, Dr. Monjib was suspended without pay from his teaching position at Mohammed V University. According to the Middle East Studies Association, which penned an open letter supporting him, even though Dr. Monjib’s case was included in a 2024 royal pardon, the restrictions placed on his daily and academic activities have not ended. On March 30, 2026, Dr. Monjib was barred from leaving Morocco for Europe where he was invited to give lectures. On May 2, 2026, he was denied entry to the Rabat International Book Fair. Mohamed Ziane, another scholar and human rights activist who has been similarly repressed, has been imprisoned since November 2022. While imprisoned, Ziane has been held in solitary confinement, prevented from writing to his lawyer and denied access to newspapers, in violation of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) strongly condemns the ongoing violations of academic freedom in Morocco perpetrated by the Moroccan government and university administrations. We call on university administrators in Morocco to respect the academic freedom of students by ceasing punitive actions against students engaging in political activism on campuses. We further call upon the Moroccan government to end police crackdowns on student protests as well as the prosecution and persecution of government critics and human rights activists. We invite the global community devoted to upholding human rights to join our calls.

(Last updated: July 27, 2026)

Please send appeals to the following:

Omar Hilale

Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations

Email:morocco.un@maec.gov.ma