Morocco’s Association of the Heads of Bar Associations said Sunday that its dispute with the government over proposed legislation regulating the legal profession has nothing to do with King Mohammed VI, rejecting what it described as attempts by foreign media to portray the disagreement as a conflict with the monarchy.
The statement followed reports by several foreign media outlets on Moroccan lawyers’ opposition to provisions of the proposed law. The association said the reports had taken the lawyers’ position out of its professional and institutional context.
The association condemned what it described as attempts to exploit the dispute to attack Morocco, its institutions and national symbols.
It stressed that the king should not be drawn into disagreements over government policies or legislation, saying lawyers’ objections are directed specifically at provisions of legislation governing the legal profession.
The association described the monarchy as a symbol of national unity and a pillar of Morocco’s stability, sovereignty and security.
It also said Moroccan lawyers’ support for the monarchy is rooted in the history of the profession and is not a position adopted in response to the current dispute.
The association cited a 1994 message by the late King Hassan II to an international conference of lawyers in Marrakech, in which he praised Moroccan lawyers for their role in Morocco’s independence and institution-building.
The association said the current disagreement should remain focused on the legal profession and the proposed legislation.
Government policies can be challenged, laws can be amended and public decisions can be criticized, it said, while the monarchy, national unity, territorial integrity and Morocco’s core national principles should remain outside the dispute.
The association accused some foreign media outlets of deliberately assigning a political dimension to the lawyers’ position that it does not carry and using the dispute to promote narratives against Morocco.
It also rejected attempts to use the lawyers’ professional protests in campaigns targeting Morocco, saying the legal profession “was not, is not and will not be” a tool for those seeking to target the country or its institutions.
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