Mehdi Ben Barka. Mohamed Oufkir was accused of being involved in his disappearance and was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia.
One of his most famous victims is believed to have been the celebrated Moroccan politician Mehdi Ben Barka, who had “disappeared” in Paris in 1965. According to Georges Figon, Oufkir tortured Ben Barka and made a number of incisions on Ben Barka’s throat and chest with a decorative Moroccan sword.[8][28] The French government issued arrest warrants for him and in 1967 a French court sentenced Oufkir to life imprisonment in absentia.[29][30][31] French president Charles de Gaulle also accused Oufkir of being responsible which led to tensions straining between Morocco and France until De Gaulle left the French presidency. Initially, Hassan defended Oufkir and called De Gaulle’s position “intolerable”. However, after the 1972 coup, Hassan claimed, in his memoirs, he had no involvement in Ben Barka’s disappearance and that it was a fait accompli by Oufkir.[28] He claimed that any attempt at rapprochement with politicians was stopped by Oufkir.[32]
After the failed 1971 military coup, Hassan II appointed Oufkir as defense minister and chief of staff of the Royal Armed Forces. Oufkir associates where appointed minister of interior and minister of agriculture and development.[33] Oufkir was granted full military and civilian powers by Hassan and tasked with reorganising the army and securing their loyalty by safeguarding against further coup attempts.[13][34][35] Oufkir and Hassan purged the military after the coup.[23] According to historian C.R. Pennell, after seeing Oufkir among the prisoners captured by the coup plotters, Hassan II said to him “‘General Oufkir, stand up! I delegate to you all my civil and military powers! Take charge of all this!”. Oufkir, however, potentially had knowledge about the coup beforehand waiting it out until he knew which side won.[36] There were also suspicions that Oufkir even had connections with the coup plotters.[5] L. Ron Hubbard and the Sea Org, the paramilitary upper echelon of the Church of Scientology which had fled to Morocco after being denied entry to most European Mediterranean ports, instructed one of their members to instruct Oufkir in the use of E-meters as lie detectors to apprehend coup participants. After the 1972 coup, Hassan II became suspicious of them and expelled them from the country.[37]
