From these seventeen commissioners, eight were from the Advisory Council on Human Rights.[12] The man who headed the commission, Driss Benzekri, was both a former political prisoner and a prominent human rights activist.[3] Benzekri was a former member of the Marxist–Leninist group Ila al-Amam which had been outlawed by the state.[12] In addition to the seventeen commissioners, there was a paid staff of one hundred people, mostly working in the investigations and reparations divisions.[4]