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Relatives of killed inmates
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EL
JADIDA, Morocco, November 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) -
Fifty-two people died and 89 were injured Friday, November 1, when a
fire raged through a prison in El Jadida, south of the Moroccan capital
Rabat, reviving a debate about conditions in the north African kingdom's
notoriously over-crowded jails.
Many
of the 52 killed in the blaze at Sidi Moussa Prison, on the outskirts of
the Atlantic coastal town of El Jadida, were inmates who died of smoke
inhalation, according to al-Jazeera Satellite Channel.
The
fire, said to be the worst ever in Morocco's overcrowded prisons, broke
out in one of the jail wings at around 1:30 am (0130 GMT) and smoke
quickly filled three other sectors.
Firemen
brought the blaze under control at around 3:00 am.
Quoting
the Moroccan News Agency (MAP), Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that
six of the injured were still in serious condition while around 40 were
expected to be discharged "in the next few hours" from El
Jadida's Mohammed V hospital, where all the casualties had been taken.
Abderrahim
Jamai, the head of the Moroccan Prisons Observatory (OMP), a
non-governmental organization with representatives from several human
rights groups, said the blaze was the worst ever in a Moroccan prison.
The
OMP leader called the fire a scandal that "most certainly resulted
from a lack of maintenance" in Morocco's notoriously overcrowded
prisons, known for their appalling conditions.
A
member of the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH), shocked by the
high death toll, told AFP the incident "reflected the prison
administration's and local authorities' negligence."
In
May last year, OMP issued a stern warning on conditions in Moroccan
prisons, calling "overcrowding ... a bomb that forces us to think
about alternative solutions to incarceration."
That
report said that in several prisons, 80 inmates are housed in cells of
of only 60 square meters (700 square feet).
Only
one out of Morocco's 44 penitentiaries - Khenifra Prison, in central
Morocco - has an acceptable population density, the report said.
All
together, Morocco's jails have the capacity to house some 39,000
prisoners. Sidi Moussa was built to take in 1,000 inmates, but more than
1,300 prisoners were being detained there, MAP said Friday.
The
prison population in Morocco has nearly doubled in the past 10 years,
swelling from some 31,230 detainees in 1991 to more than 57,300 last
year, Hassan Hamina, a prison administrator, said on October 21.
OMP
said in a recent report that the number of prisoners had increased by a
further 12 percent this year.
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The fire-stricken prison
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Every
year, some 5,000 new detainees swell Morocco's prison population, but
the jail construction program in the north African kingdom is unable to
keep pace with the constantly rising numbers, the report said.
MAP
reported earlier that an electrical short circuit caused the fire at
Sidi Moussa. However, it said, later Friday, that the cause of the blaze
was unknown.
In
August, two prisoners died and some 20 were injured in a fire at a jail
north of Rabat. That blaze was blamed on a short circuit in the
electricity supply.
King
Mohammed VI expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of
the Sidi Moussa blaze.
Outgoing
Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi and his recently named successor
Driss Jettou visited the scene of the blaze Friday, after the king asked
them to travel there.
A
government inquiry has been launched into the cause of the blaze, with
results promised as soon as possible.
