Rabat, Jan. 15 -- The jailed Hirak Rif leader Nasser Zefzafi abstained from attending an appeal hearing on Monday at the Casablanca Court of Appeals, due to what he calls the "absence of fair trial conditions."

Zefzafi's father, Ahmed Zefzafi, shared his son's statement on Facebook yesterday, announcing that his boycott is irrevocable.

As quoted by his father, Zefzafi said that the trial "is but a stage play by the judicial institution . Therefore, I declare to the local, national and international public that I am boycotting this trial, in which the most basic conditions of fairness do not exist."

The appeal hearing of Hirak detainees was initially scheduled for January 7 but the court postponed it to Monday, January 14. The court did...