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 = , burial_place = , burial_coordinates = , monuments = , nationality = Moroccan , other_names = , citizenship = , education =

Lycée Lyautey In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

, alma_mater = , occupation =

Politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

Writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, years_active = , era = , employer = , organization = , agent = , known_for = , notable_works = , style = , net_worth = , height = , television = , title = , term = , predecessor = , successor = , party =

Istiqlal Party The Istiqlal Party ( ar, حزب الإستقلال, translit=Ḥizb Al-Istiqlāl, lit=Independence Party; french: Parti Istiqlal; zgh, ⴰⴽⴰⴱⴰⵔ ⵏ ⵍⵉⵙⵜⵉⵇⵍⴰⵍ) is a political party in Morocco. It is a conservative and ...

1944 - 1959

National Union of Popular Forces The National Union of Popular Forces ( ar, الاتحاد الوطني للقوات الشعبية; , UNFP) was founded in 1959 in Morocco by Mehdi Ben Barka and his entourage, because they found that the Istiqlal Party was not radical enough. E ...

1959 - , movement = , opponents = , boards = , criminal_charge = , criminal_penalty = , criminal_status = , spouse = , partner = , children = , parents = , mother = , father = , relatives = , family = , callsign = , awards = , website = , module = , module2 = , module3 = , module4 = , module5 = , module6 = , signature = , signature_size = , signature_alt = , footnotes = Mehdi Ben Barka ( ar, المهدي بن بركة; 1920 –

disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...

29 October 1965) was a Moroccan politician, head of the left-wing

(UNFP) and secretary of the

Tricontinental Conference The Tricontinental Conference was a gathering of countries that focused on anti-colonial and anti-imperial issues during the Cold War era, specifically those related to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The conference was held from 3rd to 16 Jan ...

. An opponent of

French Imperialism The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existe ...

and King

Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People * Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...

, he was "

" in Paris in 1965. Many theories attempting to explain what happened to him were put forward over the years; but it was not until 2018 that details of his disappearance were established by Israeli journalist and author

Ronen Bergman Ronen Bergman ( he, רונן ברגמן; born June 16, 1972) is an Israeli investigative journalist and author. He is a senior political and military analyst for ''Yedioth Ahronoth'', Israel's largest-circulation daily. Bergman has written for ' ...

in his book ''Rise And Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations''. Based on research and interviews with Israeli intelligence operatives involved in planning the kidnapping of Barka, Bergman concluded that he was murdered by Moroccan agents and French police, who ended up disposing of his body.

Background

Youth and the fight for Moroccan independence

Mehdi Ben Barka was born January 1920 into a middle class family in Rabat; his father Ahmed Ben M'hammed Ben Barka was at the beginning of his career, serving as personal secretary of the Pasha of Tangier, before becoming a businessman in Rabat, and his mother Lalla Fatouma Bouanane, was a stay-at-home mother. He was one of the very few Moroccan children not from the bourgeoisie to have access to a good education. He studied at in Rabat, among the children of the and the city's nobility, where he joined the drama club and excelled in his studies. Meanwhile, in addition to his studies, he worked as a simple accountant at the wholesale market to help his family. He earned his first diploma in 1938 with high honors at a time when Morocco only produced about 20 or so graduates of baccalauréat secondary school programs per year. In response to the

Berber Dahir The document known as the Berber Dahir (, , formally: ) is a ''dhahir'' (decree) created by the French protectorate in Morocco on May 16, 1930. This ''Dahir'' changed the legal system in parts of Morocco where Amazigh languages were primarily spo ...

of May 16, 1930, which placed

Amazigh , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

populations under the jurisdiction of the French authorities, 14-year-old Mehdi Ben Barka joined the , the first political movement born under the protectorate. His outstanding academic performance attracted the attention of the French

Charles Noguès Charles Noguès (13 August 1876 – 20 April 1971) was a French general. He graduated from the École Polytechnique, and he was awarded the Grand Croix of the Legion of Honour in 1939. Biography On 20 March 1933, he became commander of the 19 ...

, who sent him along with other distinguished students on a trip to Paris. He studied at

in Casablanca from 1938 to 1939, and received his baccalauréat diploma in mathematics in 1939. As a 17-year-old, he became one of the youngest members of

Allal al-Fassi Muhammad Allal al-Fassi (ⵄⵍⵍⴰⵍ ⵍⴼⴰⵙⵉ) (January 10, 1910 – May 13, 1974), was a Moroccan politician, writer, poet and Islamic scholar. Politics He was born in Fes, Morocco. He studied at the University of Al-Qarawiyyin. F ...

's National Party for the Realization of Reforms (), which would become the

a few years later. Though he wanted to complete his studies in France, the outbreak of World War II forced him to continue his studies in mathematics at the

University of Algiers The University of Algiers (Arabic:جامعة الجزائر – بن يوسف بن خـدة ), commonly called the Algiers 1 University, is a public research university located in Algiers, Algeria. It is the oldest and most prestigious universi ...

, also under French control in 1940, instead. He earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in mathematics and became the first Moroccan to do so at an official French school. The Algerian People's Party influenced him to broaden the scale of his nationalism to incorporate all of North Africa. He could not disassociate the fate of Morocco from the fate of the entire Maghreb. He returned to Morocco in 1942. At 23 years old, as the first Moroccan Muslim graduate in mathematics of an official French school, he became a professor at the Royal Academy (, ), where the future king of Morocco

was one of his students. He participated in the creation of the

, which would play a major role in Morocco's independence. He was the youngest signatory of the

Proclamation of Independence of Morocco The Proclamation of Independence of Morocco (, ), also translated as the Manifesto of Independence of Morocco or Proclamation of January 11, 1944, is a document in which Moroccan nationalists called for the independence of Morocco in its national ...

of January 11, 1944. His signature got him arrested along with other party leaders, and he spent more than a year in prison. cites Ben Barka as having participated—along with

Ahmed Balafrej Ahmed Balafrej (Arabic: ; September 5, 1908, in Rabat – April 14, 1990, in Rabat) was the Prime Minister of Morocco between May 12, 1958, and December 2, 1958. He was a significant figure in the struggle for the independence of Morocco. Biogr ...

, ,

Mohamed Laghzaoui Muhammad was an Islamic prophet and a religious and political leader who preached and established Islam. Muhammad and variations may also refer to: *Muhammad (name), a given name and surname, and list of people with the name and its variations ...

, and —in the creation of the newspaper ''

Al-Alam ''Al-Alam'' ( ar, العَلم, lit=The Flag) is an arabophone Moroccan daily newspaper. History and profile ''Al Alam'' was founded in September 1946. The paper, based in Rabat, is the organ of the nationalist Nationalism is an idea a ...

'' in 1946. According to Mohammed Lahbabi of the USFP, Mehdi Ben Barka prepared the

Tangier Speech The Tangier Speech (, ) was a momentous speech appealing for the independence and territorial unity of Morocco, delivered by Sultan Muhammad V of Morocco on April 9, 1947 at the Mendoubia in what was then the Tangier International Zone, compleme ...

delivered by Sultan Muhammad V April 10, 1947. He also remained an activist in the nationalist movement, to the extent that the French General

Alphonse Juin Alphonse Pierre Juin (16 December 1888 – 27 January 1967) was a senior French Army general who became Marshal of France. A graduate of the École Spéciale Militaire class of 1912, he served in Morocco in 1914 in command of native troops. Upon ...

described him as the "enemy #1 of France in Morocco.” Mehdi Ben Barka was put on house arrest February 1951. In 1955, he participated in the negotiations that led to the return of Muhammad V, who French authorities had ousted and exiled, and to the end of the French protectorate.

Primary opponent of Hassan II

He left the

in 1959 after clashes with conservative opponents to found the left-wing

(UNFP). He authored '' al-Ikhtiyār ath-Thawrī fī l-Maghrib'' (, —"The Revolutionary Option in Morocco") in preparation for the second conference of the UNFP in 1962.Mouaqit, Mohammed, “Ben Barka, Mehdi”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Consulted online on 16 May 2022 First published online: 2018 First print edition: 9789004356665, 2018, 2018-5 Around this time, Ben Barka increasingly embraced revolutionary Marxist language, and the UNFP adopted a political program based on socialism and land reform, aiming to democratize public life and align the party with anti-imperialist Arab and African countries. In 1962 he was accused of plotting against King

. He was exiled from Morocco in 1963, after calling upon Moroccan soldiers to refuse to fight

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

in the 1963

Sand War The Sand War or the Sands War () was a border conflict between Algeria and Morocco in October 1963. It resulted largely from the Moroccan government's claim to portions of Algeria's Tindouf and Béchar provinces. The Sand War led to heighten ...

Exile and global political significance

When he was exiled in 1963, Ben Barka became a "traveling salesman of the revolution" according to the historian

Jean Lacouture Jean Lacouture (9 June 1921 – 16 July 2015) was a journalist, historian and author. He was particularly famous for his biographies. Career Jean Lacouture was born in Bordeaux, France. He began his career in journalism in 1950 in ''Combat'' ...

. He left initially for Algiers, where he met

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quot ...

Amílcar Cabral Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral (; – ) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, pan-Africanist, intellectual, poet, theoretician, revolutionary, political organizer, nationalist and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremo ...

and

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

. From there, he went to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, Rome,

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

and

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, trying to unite the revolutionary movements of the

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

for the

meeting that was to be held in January 1966 in Havana. In a press conference, he claimed "the two currents of the world revolution will be represented there: the current

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

emerged with the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

and that of the national liberation revolution". As the leader of the Tricontinental Conference, Ben Barka was a major figure in the Third World movement and supported

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

ary

anti-colonial Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence ...

action in various states; this provoked the anger of the United States and France. Just before his disappearance, he was preparing the first meeting of the Tricontinental, scheduled to take place in Havana. The

OSPAAAL The Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America ( es, Organización de Solidaridad de los Pueblos de Asia, África y América Latina), abbreviated as OSPAAAL, was a Cuban political movement with the stated purpose of ...

(Spanish for "Organization for Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America") was founded on that occasion. Chairing the preparatory commission, he defined the objectives; assistance with the movements of liberation, support for Cuba during its subjection to the United States embargo, the liquidation of foreign military bases and

apartheid in South Africa Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. For the historian René Galissot, "The underlying reason for the removal and assassination of Ben Barka is to be found in this revolutionary impetus of Tricontinentale."

Disappearance

On 29 October 1965, Mehdi Ben Barka was abducted ("

") in Paris by French policemen and never seen again. On 29 December 1975, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine published an article titled "The Murder of Mehdi Ben Barka", stating that three Moroccan agents were responsible for the death of Ben Barka, one of them former interior minister Mohamed Oufkir. Speculation persists as to

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

involvement. French intelligence agents and the Israeli Mossad were also involved, according to the article. According to

Tad Szulc Tadeusz Witold Szulc (July 25, 1926 – May 21, 2001) was an author and foreign correspondent for ''The New York Times'' from 1953 to 1972. Szulc is credited with breaking the story of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Early life Szulc was born in War ...

, Israeli involvement was in the wake of the successful Moroccan-Israeli collaboration in the 1961–64

Operation Yachin Operation Yakhin was an operation to secretly emigrate Moroccan Jews to Israel, conducted by Israel's Mossad between November 1961 and spring 1964. About 97,000 left for Israel by plane and ship from Casablanca and Tangier via France and Italy. ...

; he claims that

Meir Amit Meir Amit ( he, מאיר עמית, 17 March 1921 – 17 July 2009) was an Israeli politician and cabinet minister. He served as the Chief Director and the head of global operations for Mossad from 1963 to 1968, before entering into politics an ...

located Ben Barka, whereupon Mossad agents persuaded him to come to Paris where he was to be arrested by the French police.

Theories on the disappearance of Ben Barka

French trial

In the 1960s Ben Barka's disappearance was enough of a ''scandale public'' that President De Gaulle, who ordered an investigation, formally declared that the French police and secret service had not been responsible. After trial in 1967, two French officers were sent to prison for their role in the kidnapping. However, the judge ruled that the main guilty party was Moroccan Interior Minister Mohamed Oufkir.

Georges Figon Georges-Auguste Figon (21 October 1926 – 17 January 1966) was a French chemist who was a freelance ''barbouze'' (secret agent). He arranged the meeting with Mehdi Ben Barka in the ''Brasserie Lipp'' in Paris. He later told ''L'Express ''L'Exp ...

, a freelance ''barbouze'' (secret agent) who had testified earlier that Oufkir stabbed Ben Barka to death, was later found dead, officially a suicide. Prefect of Police

Maurice Papon Maurice Papon (; 3 September 1910 – 17 February 2007) was a French civil servant who led the police in major prefectures from the 1930s to the 1960s, before he became a Gaullist politician. When he was secretary general for the police in Bo ...

(1910–2007), later convicted of crimes against humanity for his role under the Vichy regime, was forced to resign following Ben Barka's kidnapping.

Ahmed Boukhari

A former member of the Moroccan

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 ...

Ahmed Boukhari Ahmed Boukhari ( ar, أحمد البوخاري; born 1938 in Safi) is a Moroccan former agent of Cab-1, the political cell of the DST (the Moroccan internal secret service). He claims to have taken part in the operation that masterminded the abd ...

claimed in 2001 that Ben Barka had died during interrogation in a

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

south of Paris. He said Ben Barka's body was then taken back to Morocco and destroyed in a vat of acid. Furthermore, he declared that this vat of acid, whose plans were reproduced by the newspapers, had been constructed under instructions from the CIA agent "

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

Martin", who had learnt this technique to make corpses disappear during his appointment in the Shah's Iran in the 1950s.

Ali Bourequat

Moroccan-French

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

and former

Tazmamart Tazmamart ( ar, سجن تازمامرت) was a secret prison in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, holding political prisoners. The prison became a symbol of oppression in the political history of contemporary Morocco. It is located near the city of ...

prisoner of conscience

Ali Bourequat Ali Bourequat is a successful Moroccan/Tunisian businessman who was secretly arrested and incarcerated for years by the Moroccan government in the infamous secret prison Tazmamart.Alain Brossat, Jean-Louis Déotte, ''La mort dissoute: dispariti ...

claims in his book ''In the Moroccan King's Secret Garden'' to have met a former Moroccan secret agent in a prison near Rabat in 1973–74. The man, Dubail, recounted how he and some colleagues, led by Colonel Oufkir and

Ahmed Dlimi Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

, had murdered Ben Barka in Paris. The body was then encapsulated in

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

and buried outside Paris, but his head was brought by Oufkir to Morocco in a

suitcase A suitcase is a form of luggage. It is a rectangular container with a handle typically used to carry one's clothes and other belongings while traveling. The first suitcases appeared in the late 19th century due to the increased popularity of m ...

. Thereafter, it was buried in the same prison grounds where Dubail and Bourequat were held. On 1 October 2009 French magistrates announced that

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

was placing four Moroccans on its most-wanted list: Morocco's police chief Gen Hosni Benslimane, Morocco's former counter-espionage chief Abdelkader Kadiri, secret service agent Abdelkak Achaachi, and Mioud Tounsi, another suspected kidnapper. But the warrants were suspended the next day; Ben Barka's family said that this proved collusion at the highest levels between France and Morocco, with France keeping the case secret.

CIA documents

Owing to requests made through the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

, the United States government acknowledged in 1976 that the

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

(CIA) possessed 1,800 documents involving Ben Barka; however, the documents had not been released .

French documents

Some secret French documents on the affair were made public in 2001, causing political uproar. Defence minister

Michèle Alliot-Marie Michèle Yvette Marie-Thérèse Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie (; born 10 September 1946), known in France as MAM, is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from France. She is a member of the Republicans, part of the Eu ...

had agreed in 2004 to follow the recommendations of a national defence committee and released the 73 additional classified documents on the case. However, the son of Mehdi Ben Barka was outraged at what he called a "pseudo-release of files", insisting that information had been withheld which could have implicated the

French secret services This is a list of current and former French intelligence agencies. Currently active *DGSE: Directorate-General for External Security – '' Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure''. It is the military foreign intelligence agency, whi ...

(SDECE), and possibly the CIA and the Mossad, as well as the ultimate responsibility of King Hassan II of Morocco–who conveniently was able to put the blame on Oufkir after his failed coup in 1972. some French secret documents on the case had not been released.

Driss Basri

Driss Basri Driss Basri ( ar, إدريس البصري ', 8 November 1938 in Settat – 27 August 2007) was a Moroccan politician who served as interior minister from 1979 to 1999. After General Oufkir's death in 1972, and then Ahmed Dlimi's death in 1983, D ...

, Interior Minister of Hassan II and his right-hand man from the early 1980s to the late 1990s, was heard by the judge Patrick Ramaël in May 2006, as a witness, concerning Ben Barka's kidnapping. Basri declared to the magistrate that he had not been linked to the Ben Barka affair. He added that "it is possible that the King knew. It is legitimate to think that

de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...

possessed some information..."

Ronen Bergman

, author and "senior correspondent for military and intelligence affairs" for Israel's ''

Yedioth Ahronoth ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...

'' newspaper, in his book '' Rise And Kill First'' (2018) writes that Israel's Mossad intelligence service had established a reciprocal intelligence-sharing relationship with the government of Morocco's

King Hassan II Hassan II ( ar, الحسن الثاني, translit=al-Ḥasan aṯ-ṯhānī;), with the prefix "Mulay" before his enthronement 9 July 1929 – 23 July 1999) was the King of Morocco from 1961 until his death in 1999. He was a member of the 'Alaw ...

. In September, 1965 the King had allowed the Mossad to install electronic eavesdropping devices in "all the meeting rooms and private suites of the leaders of the Arab states and their military commanders during an Arab summit in Casablanca", giving Israel "an unprecedented glimpse" of the military and intelligence secrets of its greatest enemies, and of the mindsets of those countries' leaders. Information transferred to Israel from the Casablanca summit about the shaky state of the Arab armies was "one of the foundations for the confidence felt by IDF chiefs" when they recommended their government to wage war two years later (the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

). But just one day after the Mossad had received the transcripts from this Arab summit, a top Moroccan intelligence service chief,

requested - on behalf of King Hassan II - that the Israelis immediately repay the favor by assassinating Ben Barka. According to Bergman's sources, the Mossad did not actually carry out the killing but played a key role in locating Barka and giving that information to Moroccan authorities so they could place him under surveillance; the Mossad created the plan for the kidnapping - which was to be carried out by the Moroccans themselves. "The Mossad supplied the Moroccans with safe houses in Paris, vehicles, fake passports, and two different kinds of poison with which to kill arka as well as shovels and 'something to disguise the traces'". After the Moroccans, "with the help of corrupt French police officers" tortured and murdered Barka in a Mossad safe house, a team of Mossad operatives took care of the disposal of the body, burying it in the Saint-Germain forest outside Paris, carefully scattering a chemical powder over the grave which would dissolve the body. " cording to some of the Israelis involved" what was left of Barka's body was then moved again and buried either under the road leading to or under the headquarters of the

Louis Vuitton Foundation The Louis Vuitton Foundation (French: ''Fondation d'entreprise Louis-Vuitton''), previously Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation (''Fondation Louis-Vuitton pour la création''), is a French art museum and cultural center sponsored by the group LV ...

Cooperation with Czechoslovak intelligence

Czech historian Jan Koura revealed in a 2020 article that Ben Barka had collaborated with Czechoslovak secret service (StB) from 1961 until his abduction in 1965. This had been suggested 15 years before, but received little attention until confirmed by documents discovered by Koura. Ben Barka made regular trips to Czechoslovakia; he provided the StB with intelligence and fulfilled specific intelligence operations, for which he was financially rewarded. The Czechoslovak secret service provided Ben Barka (codenamed "Sheikh") with intelligence training in 1965. Barka also asked the StB to train a small group of UNFP members based in Algeria with the intention of overthrowing the King Hassan II. Although the StB refused his request and was willing to train Moroccans only on conspiracy methods, surveillance, and anti-surveillance measures, Ben Barka's cooperation with the StB and his visits of Czechoslovakia were no secret to General Mohamed Oufkir and Moroccan intelligence service. According to Koura, Ben Barka's kidnapping may have been related to his alleged plan to stage a coup in Morocco with the help of the Czechoslovak secret service. During his last visit in Prague in early October 1965, Mehdi Ben Barka complained that King Hassan II was taking various measures against him and asked the secret service for a small handgun to protect himself as he feared assassination.

Legacy

Victoria Brittain Victoria Brittain (born 1942) is a British journalist and author who lived and worked for many years in Africa, the US, and Asia, including 20 years at ''The Guardian'', where she eventually became associate foreign editor. In the 1980s, she wor ...

, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', called Ben Barka a "revolutionary theoretician as significant as

Frantz Fanon Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961), also known as Ibrahim Frantz Fanon, was a French West Indian psychiatrist, and political philosopher from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have b ...

and

", whose "influence reverberated far beyond their own continent".Africa: A Continent Drenched in the Blood of Revolutionary Heroes
by Victoria Brittain, ''

'', January 17, 2011 His writings have been collected and translated in French by his son Bachir Ben Barka and published in 1999 under the title ''Écrits politiques (1957–1965)''.Mehdi Ben Barka, ''Écrits politiques (1957–1965)'', Syllepse, 1999,

Filmography

* ''

I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed ''I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed'' () is a 2005 French-Moroccan film drama directed by Serge Le Péron and Saïd Smihi. The film is based on the Ben Barka affair. Plot In a Parisian apartment, police discover the body of Georges Figon, the man who b ...

'' (2005) by * ''

Plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 Other * ''Plot' ...

'' (1972) by

Yves Boisset Yves may refer to: * Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France * Yves (given name), including a list of people with the name * ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona * ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 Fre ...

References

Bibliography

* *

(1998), ''In the Moroccan King's Secret Gardens'', Maurice Publishers * ''L'indic et le commissaire'' Lucien Aimé-Blanc and

Jean-Michel Caradec'h Jean-Michel Caradec'h (22 March 1950 – 17 November 2022)''Annie_Girardot''._''La_mémoire_de_ma_mère''_Giulia_Salvatori._Éditions_Michel_Lafon.html" ;"title="Annie Girardot''. ''La mémoire de ma mère''">Annie Girardot">''Annie Girardot ...

. Plon . * ''Mehdi Ben Barka. Recueil de textes introduit par Bachir Ben Barka'', Collection "Pensées d'hier pour demain", éditions du CETIM, 96 pages, 2013, Genève,
www.cetim.ch
*

External links

Morocco's Dirty War
by ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

''
Various English articles – including interview with son of Ben Barka and review of Ahmed Boukari's revelations
from ''

L'Humanité ''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the French Communist Party, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist." History and profile Pre-World Wa ...

'' on the occasion of the anniversary of Ben Barka's disappearance
PhotoExile is his country
By Yossi Klein, 31 July 2003, in Haaretz {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Barka, Mehdi 1920 births 1960s missing person cases 1965 deaths 20th-century Moroccan people Alumni of Lycée Lyautey (Casablanca) Assassinated Moroccan politicians History of the foreign relations of the United States Human rights abuses in Morocco Espionage scandals and incidents Missing people Missing person cases in France Moroccan exiles Moroccan expatriates in Algeria Moroccan people murdered abroad Moroccan politicians Moroccan revolutionaries Moroccan writers 1965 murders in France National Union of Popular Forces politicians People from Rabat People murdered in France People sentenced to death in absentia Terrorism theorists Kidnapped politicians People killed in French intelligence operations