Morocco, son seeks explanation from France his father's disappearance

The son of a Moroccan opposition leader, Mehdi Ben-Barka, who died thirty years ago, has written to the French President, Jacques Chirac, asking him to cast some light on the disappearance of his father.

Mehdi Ben-Barka was abducted in broad daylight in Paris in 1965 by two men masquerading as French policemen.

In a letter published today in a French regional newspaper Est Republicain, Mr Ben-Barka's son, Bachir, writes that France cannot use the official pretext of national interest to prevent the truth being revealed about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of his father.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service