Moroccan human rights pioneer dies at 57

RABAT, May 22 (Reuters) Rights activist Driss Benzekri, a Moroccan former political prisoner who led a groundbreaking commission that lifted the lid on decades of political abuse has died at the age of 57, activists said today.

They said Benzekri died on Sunday night in Rabat of complications from stomach cancer and will be buried later on Tuesday at his home village near the capital.

Benzekri was arrested as a student in 1974 and tortured for his Marxist activism. He spent the next 17 years in jail as a political prisoner.

After his release, he devoted his time trying to unearth the truth about deaths and injuries in detention, extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances during the four-decade reign of King Hassan which ended in 1999.

In 2000 Benzekri was approached by advisers to Hassan's heir, King Mohammed, to help explore how the government might address the demands of those who suffered.

The result was the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, which had the power to collect evidence from officials and held televised hearings at which victims revealed in harrowing detail abuses that were once flatly denied by the authorities.

''Despite chronic back pain caused by torture and a debilitating illness, Driss continued to fight for human rights until the end of his life,'' said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

The IER received over 16,000 files to probe and confirmed at least 9,779 cases of rights abuses. It identified the tombs of 85 people, some of them army officers who tried to topple King Hassan and were held in secret prisons.

Thousands of victims were allocated compensation, although some activists have criticised the commission because it lacked the authority to bring the perpetrators of abuse to trial.

REUTERS DS ND1946