Morocco demo demands release of jailed reform activists

The mother of one of the pro-reform activists reacts outside the courthouse after they were sentenced to jail on May 22, 2014 in Casablanca. By Fadel Senna (AFP/File)

Rabat (AFP) - Some 200 people demonstrated in the Moroccan capital Rabat Sunday to demand the release of activists from the February 20 pro-reform movement who were jailed this week.

A court in Casablanca sentenced on Thursday 11 activists from the February 20 group to jail terms of up to one year for violence against police during an unauthorised protest in April.

The demonstrators, who included activists and relatives of the accused, marched to parliament in the late afternoon watched by the security forces.

They chanted slogans, among them: "Free our political prisoners," an AFP photographer said.

Five of those convicted were handed one-year terms, four others were jailed for six months and the other two received two-month suspended sentences.

The nine main defendants were ordered to pay a total of 50,000 dirhams (4,500 euros) in fines to the national security services which filed a civil case.

They were arrested on April 6 during a march by some 10,000 participants in Casablanca called by trade unions in protest at the policies of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane.

Human rights group say they were arrested for having chanted anti-regime slogans, while a police source said five members of the security forces had been attacked and injured.

The February 20 movement, born during the Arab Spring of 2011, seeks social and political reforms in Morocco, while authorities say most of its demands were met in a new constitution adopted that year at King Mohamed VI's initiative.