Driss Benzekri

Driss Benzekri was born in an Amazigh family in Aït Ouahi near Khemisset. Imprisoned for seventeen years (1974–1991) for his activism in the Marxist student movement Ila al-Amam, he earned degrees in linguistics and international human rights law while behind bars.

In 2004, King Mohammed VI appointed him to head the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER). Benzekri presided over televised public hearings where victims of the Years of Lead testified freely, making Morocco a pioneer in transitional justice, reconciliation, and democratic institutional reform across the Middle East and Africa.