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]

Youssoufi evolves within the Army of Liberation in the company of its leader Fqih Basri.^[8] Through Mehdi Ben Barka, Youssoufi joined a group of young men who shared a vision: An Independent Morocco. Youssoufi became a member of the Al Istiqlal (Independence) Party and, at 19 years old, threw himself into the fight for a free Morocco.^[9] He was nicknamed Lenin by the Moroccan police for his excessive Nationalism.^[10] He was arrested Twice, once imprisoned for his political dissidence, he was one of the most important figures in Morocco's political scene.^[11] He also participated in the creation of the Arab Organization for Human Rights.^{[citation needed]}

In 1959, Youssoufi was one of the founders of the National Union of Popular Forces, a left-wing political party.^[12] He served as editor-in-chief of the UNFP's official newspaper at-Tahrir.^[13][14] 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.^[15] 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.^[16] In 1980 Youssoufi returned to join the new party,^[17] 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.^[18][19]

In February 2005, Youssoufi announced his retirement from politics.^[12] 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.^[24][25] He had no children.^[26]

Youssoufi died on 29 May 2020, at the age of 96 due to lung cancer.^[27][28] 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.^[29]