Nayrouz News Agency : Former Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahman El Youssoufi, has died after a prolonged illness on Friday at the age of 96, local media report.

The former prime minister died at Cheikh Khalifa hospital in Casablanca, after being hospitalised on Sunday, reported Morocco World News.

According to reports, El Youssoufi was hospitalised for pneumonia in 2016, but there has been no mention of the cause of death as yet.

Youssoufi was a member of the general secretariat of the National Union of People's Forces, which in 1975 became the Socialist Union of People's Forces (USFP).

His political activism cost him several arrests and jail terms during the reign of the late King Hassan II. He then went into exile in France for many years, North African Post reported.

Before serving the Moroccan people as prime minister, Youssoufi was a human rights lawyer, activist, and advocate for immigrant workers’ rights in France, writes Morocco World News.

In February 1998, the late HM King Hassan II had instructed him to form the government of alternation, which he presented to the Sovereign in March of the same year. After the death of the late HM King Hassan II, HM King Mohammed VI kept him at the head of the government, said Moroccan-based MAP news.

Youssoufi served as the prime minister of Morocco between 1998 until 2004.

In August 2019, on the 20th anniversary of his accession to Prime minister, King Mohammed VI paid tribute to Youssoufi by naming a brigade of new military graduates after him, writes Morocco World News.

His last public appearance was in January, when he presented a book about his political experience written by Driss Guerraoui, writes Morocco World News.