Arrest of Professor Rachid Cherkab Sparks Outrage

The judicial ruling issued by the Ain Sebaa Primary Criminal Court in Casablanca, sentencing Professor Rachid Cherkab to one year of actual imprisonment, has sparked widespread shock and major reactions within medical, human rights, and union circles in Morocco. The surprise was not limited to the verdict itself, which also ordered civil damages in favor of the plaintiffs—foremost among them the Casablanca-Settat Territorial Health Group—but intensified when the court panel decided to remand the physician and arrest him immediately from inside the courtroom, applying the provisions of Article 392 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, despite the fact that he had been prosecuted throughout the trial under provisional release and appeared before the judiciary in full compliance.

Professor Rachid Cherkab serves as a professor agregatus at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy and is a specialist physician in anesthesia and intensive care at the Ibn Rochd University Hospital. In popular and medical circles, he earned the title of "the doctor of the poor" in recognition of his humanitarian and professional commitment. The roots of the prosecution against him, based on charges related to defamation and usurpation of title, date back to his initiative of submitting repeated official complaints and reports to the Public Prosecutor's Office and relevant judicial institutions, detailing what he considered to be suspicions of corruption and managerial and financial irregularities plaguing the management of the Ibn Rochd University Hospital. However, the course of the case shifted following counter-complaints accusing him of defamation and abuse, culminating in the primary trial ending with a conviction and immediate imprisonment.

The enforcement of the courtroom arrest procedure provoked widespread condemnation from human rights activists. The Moroccan Association for the Protection of Public Funds expressed extreme astonishment at the court's resort to the provisions of Article 392, asserting through statements by its president, attorney Mohamed El Ghallousi, that this measure is exceptional and rarely applied even against defendants accused of embezzling and squandering public funds. The association warned that punishing doctors and health professionals who report shortcomings and corruption could weaken the legal protection guaranteed to whistleblowers, demanding the professor's immediate release and a serious, firm investigation into the contents of the complaints he raised regarding hospital management, stressing that his natural place remains inside treatment halls and university corridors to serve patients and train emerging medical generations.

On the professional and labor front, trade union bodies—particularly the Moroccan Workers' Union (UMT)—entered the fray to condemn the imprisonment decision, demanding that the physician be granted release and the dignity of health professionals be preserved. They emphasized the necessity of shedding light on the administrative and financial files raised within the Ibn Rochd University Hospital in accordance with standards of governance and holding responsibility accountable. Pending the outcome of the appeal phase, all eyes remain focused on the judiciary to grant justice to the defendant and reopen investigations into the substance of the complaints rather than limiting actions to their punitive aftermath.