Rabat compensates last victims of Hassan's rule

 
Human rights organisation says Morocco compensated last batch of former monarch's victims.

 
RABAT - Morocco compensated the last batch of victims of the hard-line rule of former monarch Hassan II, a human rights organisation said Tuesday.

"This amounts to the last individual compensation payments for victims of human rights abuses," said Ahmed Herzenni, president of the Consultative Council on Human Rights (CCDH).

Those compensated -- a motley group of ex-high school students, workers, beggars and homeless people -- were arrested in Casablanca in 1971, ostensibly to beef up security ahead of an Islamic conference, a CCDH representative said.

The group was subsequently jailed for three years in southeastern Morocco. Seven died in detention.

"We insisted on the state's responsibility" in the case, Herzenni said.

Hassan's long 1961-1999 rule is often known as the "Years of Lead," for his heavy-handed human rights policies.

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