What happened to Mehdi Ben Barka? New book shines light on 60-year mystery

What happened to Mehdi Ben Barka? New book shines light on 60-year mystery

• Oct 29, 2025, 3:49 PM

1 min de lecture

The authors of a new book on a murder mystery that has gripped political life in France and Morocco for 60 years have spoken to FRANCE 24 about their discoveries. The disappearance of Moroccan opposition politician Medhi Ben Barka from the streets of Paris exactly 60 years ago, just a day before he'd been due to be received at the French President's Élysée Palace, shocked both countries. Since then, a thousand possible theories about what happened have emerged, some involving the Israeli secret service Mossad and even the CIA. Ronen Bergman and Stephen Smith spoke to us in Perspective about their book "L’Affaire Ben Barka", or the "Ben Barka Affair".

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