France and Morocco renew legal ties after 11-month freeze
France and Morocco have renewed legal ties after nearly a year’s suspension due to a row over legal cases lodged in France against Rabat’s spy chief.
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French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira and her Moroccan counterpart Mustapha Ramid agreed to reestablish legal cooperation following meetings on Thursday and Friday, the French justice ministry announced Saturday.
They signed an amended accord that would enable “more efficient cooperation between the legal authorities of the two countries and strengthen exchanges of information, while fully respecting their legislation, legal institutions and their international commitments”.
The deal must now be ratified by the two countries’ governments.
The discussions were “very constructive”, the French ministry said.
Morocco broke off legal cooperation on 27 February 2014 because of several legal complaints filed for torture and complicity in torture in France against Moroccan intelligence chief Abdellatif Hammouchi.
With several thousand French and Moroccan nationals going to fight with the Islamic State armed group in Iraq and Syria, January French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius said that its return was an “absolute necessity” for the fight against jihadist violence.
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