Background
He was born in February 24, 1912, at Meknes, 20 miles east of Rabat.
He was born in February 24, 1912, at Meknes, 20 miles east of Rabat.
Educated at Primary and secondary schools in Arabic and French at Meknes and then Joined the Moroccan Railways.
From 1950 he became deeply involved in union and nationalist political activity. He was arrested in 1951. He established himself in a dominant position.
Continuing as a vigorous critic of the government, he was given police protection after a kidnapping attempt on February 26, 1972, when he was wounded in the leg. In September 1972 he was ousted from UNFP’s political bureau because the party’s administrative commission wanted to assert its independence from the trade union movement. He still exerts a strong influence on the political opposition movement to the King's party.
His political involvement developed in parallel with his trade union commitments. He became a member of the secretariat of the National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP) and of Kutlah al Watania (the National Popular Front).
On November 12, 1965, he called a strike in protest against the kidnapping of left-wing leader Ben Barka in Paris. He sent a telegram to the palace in June 1967 challenging the government’s right to condemn an unofficial boycott of the Jewish community after the six- day Arab-Israeli war. He was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for failing to respect the authority of the government”.