WASHINGTON: A senior Moroccan official rejected recent criticism of the country’s human rights record on Thursday ahead of King Mohammed’s upcoming visit to the United States.

And in an exclusive interview to AFP, Morocco’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mbarka Bouaida renewed opposition to a US plan to broaden the UN mission to the Western Sahara.

King Mohammed will hold talks with US President Barack Obama at the White House to highlight US support for his country’s democratic and economic reforms, the US administration has said.

But Human Rights Watch this week urged Obama to press the king to keep moving forward on reforms, including stronger legal protections for rights.

Bouaida told AFP that criticism of her country’s human rights only concerned a few “isolated cases.”

She also maintained that it was feared that pro-independence fighters in the annexed region of western Sahara, had links with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

“Work on human rights began more than a decade ago in Morocco,” Bouaida said, adding her country was open to all non-governmental organizations.

“We are aware of isolated cases which still exist surrounding human rights and we are freely discussing them in Morocco. But having said that Morocco remains a regional leader in human rights issues,” she insisted. Bouaida highlighted a press code which will soon be adopted by Parliament, and legal reforms which began 18 months ago.

“I think we are really on the right track, and we have made a strategic, irreversible choice on reforms.”