Morocco ? A truth commission tasked with investigating more than four decades of human rights abuses in Morocco uncovered nearly 600 disappearances and the deaths of about 500 people during street riots or while in police custody, the state news agency reported Friday.

The commission – the first of its kind in the Arab world – called for reform of the country’s judicial and security sectors, along with constitutional guarantees of human rights, presumption of innocence and fair, open trials, the MAP news agency reported.

The findings of the two-year investigation were submitted to King Mohammed VI, who established the Equity and Reconciliation Commission to examine alleged abuses during the reign of his father, King Hassan II.

The panel’s final report said 592 people were forcibly “disappeared” between 1956 and 1999, a period Moroccans refer to as the “years of lead,” or the rule of the gun.

It found that 322 people thought to have been disappeared were killed during riots in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s, all by disproportionate force. Another 174 people died while being held in illegal detention centers. The investigation discovered the graves of more than 100 victims.