Mohammed Ziane

Mohammed Ziane (Arabic: محمد زيان, born 14 February 1943) is a Moroccan lawyer and politician who is currently imprisoned in the El Arjat Penitentiary in Salé. He was the Bâtonnier of the Moroccan Bar Association, an MP for the Constitutional Party during the 80s until 1995 and served as Minister-Delegate for Human Rights between 1996 and 1997. In 2001, he founded the Moroccan Liberal Party, and served as its National Coordinator ever since. In February 2022, following a clash with Abdellatif Hammouchi, a close associate of the King Mohammed VI, and the Director of the Moroccan Police and head of the Moroccan internal intelligence agency, DGST, he was sentenced to three years in prison on a number of charges which included defying emergency health orders for the COVID-19 pandemic, sexual harassment accusations, diffusing accusations against a woman because of her gender, in addition to diffusing disrespectful declarations against Abdellatif Hammouchi personally, and against Moroccan state's administration and judiciary. The execution of the sentence was suspended by appeal, but was carried out on 21 November 2022, when it was confirmed by a court of appeal.