Thanks to an anonymous reader who posted a comment, I was finally able to identify the person depicted on the green definitve stamp on the Morocco cover I posted the other day.
Apparently, it is the late King Hassan II, ruler of Morcco for 40 years, from 3 March 1961 until his death on 23 July 1999.
Hassan II is known for a exercising a rather authoritarian rule over Morocco, which was plagued by many objectiosn from the opposition and a rather poor human rights record. In Morocco's first constitution of 1963, Hassan II reaffirmed Morocco's choice of a multi-party political system, the only one in the Maghreb. The constitution gave the King large powers he eventually used to strengthen his rule, which provoked strong political protest from the UNFP and the Istiqlal parties that formed the backbone of the opposition. In 1965, Hassan dissolved parliament and ruled directly, although he did not abolish the mechanisms of parliamentary democracy. When elections were eventually held, they were mostly rigged in favor of loyal parties. This caused severe discontent among the opposition, and protest demonstrations and riots challenged the King's rule.
The period from the 1960s to the late '80s was labelled by the Moroccan opposition as the "years of lead" and saw many dissidents jailed, killed, exiled or forcibly disappeared.
King Hassan II had extended many parliamentary functions by the early '90s and released hundreds of political prisoners in 1991, and allowed the Alternance, where the opposition assumed power, for the first time in the Arab World. He set up a Royal Council for Human Rights to look into allegations of abuse by the state.
He was succeeded by his son, King Mohammed VI, upon his death in 1999.
A note of interest:
Hassan II survived TWO attempts at his life, the first in 1971 during at function at Skhirat, an ocean resort, and the second on 16 Aug 72, when his Boeing 727 was attacked in mid-air by the Royal Moroccan Air Force while it was on its way back to Rabat. Both were coup d'etat attempts.
Apparently, it is the late King Hassan II, ruler of Morcco for 40 years, from 3 March 1961 until his death on 23 July 1999.
Hassan II is known for a exercising a rather authoritarian rule over Morocco, which was plagued by many objectiosn from the opposition and a rather poor human rights record. In Morocco's first constitution of 1963, Hassan II reaffirmed Morocco's choice of a multi-party political system, the only one in the Maghreb. The constitution gave the King large powers he eventually used to strengthen his rule, which provoked strong political protest from the UNFP and the Istiqlal parties that formed the backbone of the opposition. In 1965, Hassan dissolved parliament and ruled directly, although he did not abolish the mechanisms of parliamentary democracy. When elections were eventually held, they were mostly rigged in favor of loyal parties. This caused severe discontent among the opposition, and protest demonstrations and riots challenged the King's rule.
The period from the 1960s to the late '80s was labelled by the Moroccan opposition as the "years of lead" and saw many dissidents jailed, killed, exiled or forcibly disappeared.
King Hassan II had extended many parliamentary functions by the early '90s and released hundreds of political prisoners in 1991, and allowed the Alternance, where the opposition assumed power, for the first time in the Arab World. He set up a Royal Council for Human Rights to look into allegations of abuse by the state.
He was succeeded by his son, King Mohammed VI, upon his death in 1999.
A note of interest:
Hassan II survived TWO attempts at his life, the first in 1971 during at function at Skhirat, an ocean resort, and the second on 16 Aug 72, when his Boeing 727 was attacked in mid-air by the Royal Moroccan Air Force while it was on its way back to Rabat. Both were coup d'etat attempts.
