Abderrahmane Youssoufi

Born in Tangier,[6] Youssoufi was a socialist from a young age,[6] dedicating himself to organizing the working class of Casablanca as early as 1944.[6] In 1949 Youssoufi began also to fight for the rights of immigrant Moroccan workers in France.[6] He also studied law, practicing in Tangier from 1952 to 1960.[7]

The Youssoufi family were of Berbers origin, and the future prime minister spoke only Tamazight and French until he began school, where he learned standard Arabic and Darija (Moroccan Arabic).[8]

Youssoufi evolves within the Army of Liberation in the company of its formidable leader Fqih Basri.[9] Through Mehdi Ben Barka, Youssoufi joined a group of passionate young men who shared a vision: An independent Morocco. Youssoufi became a member of the Al Istiqlal (Independence) Party and, at only 19 years old, threw himself into the fight for a free Morocco.[10] He was nicknamed Lenin by the Moroccan police for his excessive Nationalism.[11] He was arrested Twice, once imprisoned for his political dissidence, he was one of the most important figures in Morocco’s political scene.[12] his participation in the creation of the Arab Organization for Human Rights

In 1959, Youssoufi was one of the founders of the National Union of Popular Forces, a left-wing political party.[13] He was arrested for his involvement in 1959 and again in 1963,[6] the latter arrest leading to a prison sentence of two years.[7] Following his release, Youssoufi went into self-imposed exile in Paris for a period of fifteen years.[7] Later he returned to Morocco.[14] Meanwhile, the National Union of Popular Forces became the Socialist Union of Popular Forces and Abderrahmane Youssoufi was appointed its permanent delegate outside the country, and later, in 1978, a member of its political bureau.[15] In 1980 Youssoufi returned to join the new party,[16] becoming the party secretary in 1992 after the death of Abderrahim Bouabid.[1]

In 1983, he co-founded the Arab Organization for Human Rights along with Egyptian sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim and French-Syrian sociologist Burhan Ghalioun.[17][18]

In February 2005, Youssoufi announced his retirement from politics.[13] He began to live in Casablanca after his retirement.[1] On 15 October 2016, Youssoufi was hospitalized for pneumonia and King Mohammed VI visited him in the hospital.[23][24] He had no children.[25]

Youssoufi died on 29 May 2020, at the age of 96 due to lung cancer.[26][27] His funeral took place Friday at the “Chouhada” (martyrs) cemetery in Casablanca in the presence of a small number of relatives due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[28]