Ahmed Boukhari ( ar, أحمد البوخاري; born 1938 in Safi) is a Moroccan former agent of Cab-1, the political cell of the

DST Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...

(the Moroccan internal

secret service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

). He claims to have taken part in the operation that masterminded the abduction and liquidation of

Mehdi Ben Barka use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...

, and is as such one of the last surviving possible witnesses in the Benbarka Affair.

Ben Barka Affair

Although he was not present at the crime scene, he had to process all the information on the operation. He claims that

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

agents were involved, a certain ''Colonel Martin''. Boukhari claimed in his confessions that Ben Barka's body was transported secretly to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

and his corpse was dissolved in a bath of acid. However, pro-government newspapers in Morocco claimed that Boukhari is a fraud and a liar. The movie "J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka" has been based partly on this book.

Publications

Boukhari authored two books, one about the Ben Barka affair, title ''Le Secret'' and the other ''Raisons d'état'' (published in 2005), where he recounts the operations of the DST from the 1960s to the 1980s during the repression of various dissident movements, mainly from the socialist left. He remains the only insider who has ever published about the DST.

Arrest, trial and harassment by authorities

Because of his revelations, Boukhari had many problems with the justice in Morocco. Including defamation lawsuits by former employees of the DST and the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior, whom he mentioned by name in his book, as well as other common affairs such as dishonoured cheques, which were claimed to be used against him in order to sentence him in a non-political affair. The Moroccan authorities have refused to issue a passport for Boukhari, which he requested in 2001 in order to be able to testify in France before the judge investigating the Ben Barka disappearance. After a lawsuit in the administrative court, Boukhari was finally granted a passport in early 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boukhari, Ahmed Human rights abuses in Morocco Living people 1938 births People from Safi, Morocco People of Moroccan intelligence agencies Moroccan whistleblowers Moroccan prisoners and detainees