1972 Moroccan coup attempt and death
Main article: 1972 Moroccan coup attempt
Oufkir was accused of plotting the 1972 Moroccan coup attempt against King Hassan II alongside two other high ranking air forces, one of whom being Mohamed Amekrane.[38] The USFP were also said to be involved with Fqih Basri fleeing to Algeria.[39] The official narrative, first given by the interior minister Mohamed Benhima and later Hassan II, claimed that the general had committed suicide first “out of shame of his failure to protect the king” and later because his complicity was revealed.[8][40] Hassan, twenty one years later in an interview with French journalist Éric Laurent, when asked whether it was Ahmed Dlimi who executed Oufkir, claimed that Oufkir “would not have stood judged by his peers, and being taken before a firing squad after being stripped of his rank. It was not his style.”[41] However, his daughter, Malika Oufkir, writing in her book Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail, claimed to have seen five bullet wounds in her father’s body, all in positions not consistent with suicide.[40] These bullets at the back of his head made this alleged suicide come to be known as an “acrobatic suicide”.[42] One version of his death claims that Oufkir returned to the palace to reported to the king that he put down the rebellion, arresting most of the culprits. However, after being informed by Ahmed Dlimi and Moulay Hafid Alaoui [fr] that the king suspected him of being the chief instigator of the coup attempt, he exploded in a fury, pulled out his gun and then was shot dead in the struggle.[41] It is likely that Oufkir was executed by generals loyal to the Moroccan monarchy after being summoned to the palace specifically being shot by Ahmed Dlimi.[5][35] Hassan II, during a press conference held on 21 August, described Oufkir as a scheming traitor which helped to create the black legend around him. He died on 16 August 1972[2] or 17 August 1972.[4][43] He is buried in Ain Chair.[4][43]
The Story of General Mohamed Oufkir…See more
