Abdelouafi Laftit

Abdelouafi Laftit is a Moroccan politician, currently serving as Minister of the Interior since 5 April 2017.

Biography

Laftit was born in Tafersit. He graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1989, and the École des ponts ParisTech in 1991. He is married with four children.

Political career

Laftit previously worked in several positions in the regional and port sectors. On 24 January 2014, he was appointed Wali of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region by King Mohammed VI, as well as of the Rabat prefecture. He remained Wali when the region was reorganized as Rabat-Salé-Kénitra in 2015.
In April 2017, Laftit was appointed by the king as Minister of the Interior in the government of Saadeddine Othmani. He retained his position in the cabinet of Aziz Akhannouch.
On 2 April 2018, during a meeting at the Commission for the Interior, Local Authorities, Housing and Urban Policy in the House of Representatives and in the context of the 2017–2018 Moroccan protests, Laftit accused a number of organizations, including the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, the Democratic Way and the Islamist association Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane, of calling for demonstrations "in a vain attempt to blackmail the state" and serving the "interests of media outlets hostile to the Kingdom". In response, the Moroccan Coalition of Human Rights Bodies said that Laftit intended to "reinforce censorship" and demanded an apology from him.