Abdellatif Hammouchi is an advisor to the King of Morocco Mohamed VI and serves as both head of the Moroccan intelligence (DGST) and police (DGSN). He has been described in Arabic as “the Kingdom’s eyes that never sleep.”[1] In line with the secretive nature of his work, Hammouchi largely avoids public attention; and incidentally, popularly cited sources on Wikipedia connecting Hammouchi personally with King Mohamed VI and to past human rights abuses at the Temara interrogation center have been taken down in the past[2][3]. Hammouchi’s alleged violations of humanitarian law include personally overseeing in the arbitrary detention, rape, and torture of Moroccan civilians, as well as maintaining extrajudicial detention and interrogation centers in Morocco and the Western Sahara – some of which have been outfitted for use as CIA black sites[4][5].

While past allegations of human-rights abuses have dragged Hammouchi and Morocco into international controversies including a high-profile diplomatic row with France,[6] the intelligence chief continues to spearhead closer security cooperation with partners across Europe in the ever-continuing war against terrorism.[7] Hammouchi also broke with his habitual elusiveness in May 2017 when he delivered media-attended address outlining his initiative to achieve “good security governance” with “deep and comprehensive reform of the police system.” [8] It is yet to be seen whether his stated prioritization of respecting human rights will lead to any substantial departures from past controversies. In addition to heading the Moroccan police and intelligence services, there has been past indication that Hammouchi may be a favored future candidate to head Morocco’s Ministry of Interior.[9]

(Text by Tyler Belmont)

[1] http://www.alyaoum24.com/172537.html

[2]http://m.cawalisse.com/archive/2015/05/%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%87%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%8C-%D8%AE%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B1%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%8A-%D9%83%D9%84%D9%81%D9%87-%D8%A7/

[3] https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE29/013/2010/en/1a0ad009-5ae6-4823-9d86-16caa2e8357d/mde290132010en.html

[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/world/us-tactics-in-morocco-said-to-enable-torture.html

[5] https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/globalizing-torture-20120205.pdf, p. 97.

[6] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26360224

[7] https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/09/228436/abdellatif-hammouchi-heads-moroccan-delegation-berlin-boost-security-cooperation-germany/

[8] https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/05/216815/abdellatif-hammouchi-respect-human-rights-imperative-keep-peace-morocco/

[9] https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/04/212723/abdellatif-hammouchi-suggested-to-be-minister-of-interior/