Omar Benjelloun (1936, in

Oujda Oujda ( ar, وجدة; ber, ⵡⵓⵊⴷⴰ, Wujda) is a major Moroccan city in its northeast near the border with Algeria. Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental region of northeastern Morocco and has a population of about 558,000 people. It ...

– 18 December 1975, in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

) was a Moroccan journalist, engineer, lawyer and trade union activist.

Biography

Omar Benjelloun was born in 1936 in Oujda. He comes from one of the most affluent families in Morocco; nevertheless he attended French school and later studied law in France. Following his graduation in telecommunications and law in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Benjelloun returned to Morocco to take up a post as a regional director in telecommunications in Casablanca. In 1959, after leaving the

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 ...

with other members, he went on to become the general secretary of the socialist party USFP (Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires), of which he had been a founding member, and editor of its newspaper ''

Al Muharrir ''Al Muharrir'' (; ''the Liberator'' or ''the Editor'') was an Arabic-language daily newspaper published in Morocco. It was in circulation between December 1974 and June 1981. History and profile ''Al Muharrir'' was first published in December 1 ...

''. In 1963 he received a death sentence under the rule of

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 Scottis ...

, but was later pardoned. He was again arrested in 1966 and 1973 and subjected to torture. On 18 December 1975 he was stabbed or battered to death in front of his home in Casablanca. It is suspected that he was killed by the '' Shabiba Islamiya''. After Benjelloun's assassination,

Abdelkrim Motii Abdelkrim Motii ( ar, عبد الكريم المطيع; born 25 November 1935 in Ben Ahmed) is the co-founder with Kamal Ibrahim of Chabiba islamia ("Islamic Youth") in 1969. After being accused of implication in the December 18, 1975, assassinat ...

, founder of the Shabiba Islamiya, had to flee Morocco.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjelloun, Omar 1936 births 1975 deaths Assassinated Moroccan people Moroccan male journalists Moroccan politicians Moroccan prisoners and detainees Moroccan torture victims People from Oujda Victims of human rights abuses 20th-century journalists