On 27 December 2010 Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) requesting its intervention with Moroccan authorities so as to immediately liberate Mr El Hachimi, or at least that he provided under legal protection.

Following Mr El Hachimi's arrest, his family immediately contacted several police stations in Mohammadia in an effort to find out why he was arrested. None of the police stations recognized his detention and his family fears he will subjected to torture.

In the past few months there have been numerous cases of abductions and secret detentions in Moroccan during which victims were tortured.

In the WGEID's mission report (A/HRC/13/31/Add.1) on Morocco, published on 9 February 2010 (following the WGEID's official visit to Morocco between 22 and 25 June 2009), it confirmed having received allegations that arrests, abductions and long term provisional detentions were taking place under the pretext of the so-called "fight against terrorism". While in custody, the victims were not given access to a lawyer and their families were left uninformed.

According to the Declaration on the Protection of all Person from Enforced Disappearance (GA resolution 47/133 of 18 December 1992), the period during which Mr El Hachimi was in custody is considered an enforced disappearance.

It is worth mentioning that during the Committee against Torture's 47th session, from 31 October to 25 November 2011, Morocco's fourth periodic report will be examined (CAT/C/MAR/4). In the framework of the upcoming review, Alkarama plans to present an shadow report to the Committee regarding Morocco's application of the Convention against Torture, which it ratified on 21 June 1993.