Sion Assidon (born in 1948) is a

Moroccan Moroccan may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to the country of Morocco * Moroccan people * Moroccan Arabic, spoken in Morocco * Moroccan Jews See also * Morocco leather Morocco leather (also known as Levant, the French Maro ...

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

activist.

Biography

Zion Assidon was born in 1948 to an Amazigh Jewish family in Safi. His family moved to Agadir shortly after, and then to Casablanca after then

1960 Agadir earthquake The 1960 Agadir earthquake occurred 29 February at 23:40 Western European Time near the city of Agadir, located in western Morocco on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the earthquake's moderate scale magnitude of 5.8, its relatively shal ...

. He later moved to France, where he studied mathematics in Paris and became influenced by Marxist ideas. He decided to return to Morocco in 1967, after completing his studies. In 1986, he founded an IT company before taking over the family business.

Activities

During the

Years of Lead Years of Lead is a phrase used in several countries to refer to periods of history marked by military repression, political violence or terrorism. Years of lead may refer to: Historical periods * Years of Lead (Brazil), from 1968 to 1974 * Yea ...

, Assidon was involved in the fight for the establishment of democracy in his country, which led to his arrest in 1972. He spent 12 years in prison along with fellow opposition leaders and political dissidents. Assidon is a “resolute defender of the Palestinian cause". In 2005, he founded "Transparency Maroc" of which he became the director and he is a member of the Executive Board and the Board of Directors of Transparency International. In 2011, he protested against

Hindi Zahra Hindi Zahra (Tamazight: ⵀⵉⵏⴷⵉ ⵣⴰⵀⵕⴰ, Arabic: هندي زهرة, born 20 January 1979 in Khouribga, Morocco) is a Moroccan singer. When coming up with a stage name, she simply inverted her birth name. Her songs are mostly in ...

with the Casablanca group of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) because the singer had decided to hold a concert in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. In April 2012, he protested the visit of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), of