One week after international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleged that imprisoned journalist Taoufik Bouachrine has been held in a «form of abusive solitary confinement for more than a year», prison authorities in Ain Borja rejected these accusations in a communiqué, released Friday. Relayed by MAP press agency, the administration of the Casablanca local prison stressed that Bouachrine is «treated on equal footing with other inmates». «Contrary to allegations, suggesting that he was put in solitary confinement, the inmate chose to stay in a cell by himself and refused to join another one that had other inmates in it», the same source said. The statement comes as a response to an article published, last Friday, where HRW denounced the situation of the journalist which it sees as «cruel and inhuman under United Nations Rules». Quoting Bouachrine's wife Asmae Moussaoui, Human Rights Watch wrote that «guards are forbidden to speak with him», which was denounced by the prison administration of the Ain Borja local prison.
