Sion Assidon | |
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Transparency International | |
Personal details | |
Born | May 1948 Safi, Morocco |
Sion Assidon (born in 1948) is a Moroccan human rights activist.
Zion Assidon was born in 1948 to a Moroccan Berber Jewish family in Safi. His family moved to Agadir shortly after, and then to Casablanca after then 1960 Agadir earthquake. He later moved to France, where he studied mathematics in Paris and became influenced by Marxist ideas. He decided to return to Morocco in 1967, after completing his studies. [1]
In 1986, he founded an IT company before taking over the family business.
During the Years of Lead, Assidon was involved in the fight for the establishment of democracy in his country, which led to his arrest in 1972. He spent 12 years in prison along with fellow opposition leaders and political dissidents. [2]
Assidon is a “resolute defender of the Palestinian cause". [3] [4]
In 2005, he founded "Transparency Maroc" of which he became the director and he is a member of the Executive Board and the Board of Directors of Transparency International. [5]
In 2011, he protested against Hindi Zahra with the Casablanca group of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) because the singer had decided to hold a concert in Tel Aviv. [6]
In April 2012, he protested the visit of Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er, declaring:
"We should not receive artists or athletes from this country as if nothing had happened. It is abnormal to pretend everything is fine. These are people who are inflicting apartheid on the Palestinian people. We must not receive them but also show solidarity with the Palestinian people.” [7]
Assidon is married to an American Palestinian. They have a son named Millal.
He is a Jewish atheist who believes in freedom of religion. [8]
Marrakesh Menara Airport is an international airport serving Marrakesh, the capital city of the Marrakesh-Safi region in Morocco. It is an international facility that receives several European flights as well as flights from Casablanca, some of the Arab world nations and from 2024, flights from North America. The airport served over 6.3 million passengers in 2019.
Agadir is a major city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Souss River flows into the ocean, and 509 kilometres (316 mi) south of Casablanca. Agadir is the capital of the Agadir Ida-U-Tanan Prefecture and of the Souss-Massa economic region.
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Abraham Serfaty was an internationally prominent Moroccan Marxist-Leninist dissident, militant, and political activist, who was imprisoned for years by King Hassan II of Morocco, for his political actions in favor of democracy, during the Years of Lead. He paid a high price for such actions: fifteen months living underground, seventeen years of imprisonment and eight years of exile. He returned to Morocco in September 1999.
Chakib Benmoussa is a Moroccan diplomat and politician. He previously served as the interior minister of Morocco and has been the lead negotiator for the Moroccan side in the Western Sahara conflict. Since December 2012, he is serving as the Moroccan ambassador to France. Between October 7, 2021 and November 12, 2024, he had served as the education and sports minister.
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Mustapha Bakkoury is a Moroccan businessman, engineer and politician. He is chairman of the board of the Moroccan Solar Energy Agency and the council president of the Casablanca-Settat region. He was born in Mohammedia, but is a native of Taounate.
The architecture of Casablanca is diverse and historically significant. Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital, has a rich urban history and is home to many notable buildings in a variety of styles. Throughout the 20th century, architecture and urban development in Casablanca evolved in a way that was simultaneously specific to the city's contexts, and consonant with international ideas.
Serge Berdugo is a Moroccan lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Tourism for both Prime Ministers Mohammed Karim Lamrani and Abdellatif Filali between 1993 and 1995. Berdugo is a leader within the Moroccan Jewish community, serving as Secretary-General of the Israelite Community Council of Morocco and President of the Israelite Community of Casablanca.
Abdelkader Moutaa is a Moroccan actor known for his contributions to the Moroccan film and television industry.
The State Bank of Morocco was a quasi-central bank established in 1907 following the Algeciras Conference, to stabilize the Moroccan currency and serve as a vehicle for European and especially French influence in the Sultanate of Morocco. Following the independence of Morocco, it was replaced in 1959 by the newly created Banque du Maroc, known since 1987 as Bank Al-Maghrib.
Haim Botbol is a Moroccan musician.
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Germain Ayache was a Moroccan historian born 1915.