MOROCCO CLOSE TO ABOLISHING EXECUTIONS, JUSTICE MINISTRY OFFICIAL

Morocco could soon decide to abolish the death penalty or suspend executions, a highly placed source in the justice ministry said. The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said authorities had set up a special commission of jurists to review the Moroccan criminal code and that the commission's work was at an advanced stage.
"The death penalty is one of the issues which most interests this commission," the source told AKI, adding that the jurists were considering the requests advanced by the Moroccan civil society to abolish capital punishment.
"The debate on this is not over yet but it looks like the panel of jurists is in favour of abolishing the death penalty or suspending executions," the source explained, also considering that "no one has been executed in Morocco since 1993 despite the fact that Moroccan courts have sentenced defendants to death during that period."