El Mortada Iamrachen
El Mortada Iamrachen, born Abdallah El Kassimi on February 27, 1987, in Al Hoceima, Morocco, is a Moroccan political and social activist. He grew up with a father who was an Imam and studied the Qur’an from a young age. In 2011, he joined the 20 February protests in Al Hoceima and began to advocate for tolerance and open-minded discussions beyond just one interpretation of religion. He was briefly fired as an Imam for his broader views and later became known for his commitment to peace and dialogue, being nominated for a 2015 Morocco Common Ground Peace Award.
In 2016-2017, after the death of Mouhcine Fikri, Iamrachen joined the Hirak Rif protest movement. He used Facebook to promote peaceful protests and participated in demonstrations during that period.
On June 10, 2017, he was arrested at his home in Al Hoceima based on two Facebook posts from 2016 and 2017. His father died soon after from a heart attack. He was temporarily released to attend the funeral, but was re-arrested in November 2017 after a Rabat court sentenced him to five years in prison for allegedly “advocating acts constituting terrorism offenses” and “inciting others to commit terrorist acts.” One post referred to the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, and another described a conversation in which a journalist allegedly asked him about bringing weapons to Morocco, to which he reportedly answered sarcastically that he had.
Human Rights Watch criticized the case, suggesting it may have been a way to silence a protest leader rather than a genuine terrorism case.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:19 (CET).