RABAT: Morocco freed 92 political prisoners Thursday, including a prominent anti-corruption activist and a controversial preacher, under a pardon issued by the king following street protests demanding democratic reform.
The pardon also commuted death penalties for five others and life imprisonments for 37 others to limited prison terms, officials from the National Council for Human Rights said. Prison terms for 53 others were also reduced.

The majority of those freed or whose sentences were reduced were members of the Islamist Salafist Jihad group.
Mohammad Sebbar, appointed secretary general of the Council by King Mohammad VI in March, said the pardon was a prelude to a thorough review of the cases of political prisoners in Morocco.

Those freed included preacher Mohammad Fizazi, who was sentenced in 2003 to 30 years in jail after he was convicted of inspiring 12 suicide bombers to kill 33 people in Casablanca earlier that year, in Morocco’s deadliest bomb attack.

Local human right groups have said hundreds, including Salafist Jihad sympathizers, were jailed after the attack in politically motivated trials, often without solid evidence.
Last month, King Mohammad announced constitutional reform to give up some of his sweeping powers and make the judiciary independent in Morocco, a staunch ally of the West.

It came after a youth-led movement, called February 20, spearheaded some of the biggest anti-establishment protests in decades in the country, with demands that included the release of political prisoners.
“This pardon indicates that the king has once again picked up the streets’ message,” political analyst Ahmad al-Bouz said.

Five people who were jailed in 2009 after a court convicted them of plotting terrorist attacks in the country and who were among those freed were present at Thursday’s news conference, including prominent figures of two moderate Islamist parties.

“I would like to thank the youth of February 20 Movement,” Mustapha Mouatassim, one of them, said.
Abdel-Hafid Sriti, a correspondent of Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel in Morocco, was another released prisoner.
Female relatives broke into tears and chanted “God is Greatest” when the group was brought to the Council venue in black cars.

One woman, Houria Amer, wept in disappointment when she realized that her husband Luqman Mokhtar, who was also jailed in 2009, was not among them. “They have all been jailed unfairly under the same sham case. How can they free some and leave others in prison?” she said to Reuters.

Also absent was Frenchman Pierre Robert who was accused of involvement in the May 2003 bombings in Casablanca that killed 33 people, and 12 suicide attackers, and wounded scores. He was sentenced to life.
“The case of Mr. Robert is being examined for a possible pardon,” said Mohammad Sebbar, secretary general of National Human Rights Council, which had recommended the pardons to the king.

Corruption whistleblower and human rights activist Chakib al-Khiari, jailed for three years in 2009 after accusing high-ranking officials of involvement in drug trafficking, was among those pardoned and freed.

Human rights group Amnesty International has said Khiari was a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for his anti-corruption statements and human rights activities.
According to U.S. diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks in December, corruption is prevalent at all levels of society and has become “much more institutionalized with King Mohammad.”