Morocco compensates hundreds of rights victims from 1956-99

RABAT, Morocco – Morocco has compensated hundreds of victims of human rights violations dating back more than six decades.

Authorities say people considered eligible, and their families, over violations from 1956 to 1999 were handed a total of $9.1 million on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Recipients of compensation included dozens of people allegedly abducted by the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, with which Morocco is in a long conflict over the Western Sahara border.

The move by Morocco’s Council of Human Rights was spearheaded by a commission established by King Mohammed VI in 2004 to turn the page on the country’s so-called “Years of Lead,” a period of state-sponsored violence and repression against dissidents.