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Western Sahara: Arrest, detention and fear of torture and ill-treatment of human rights defender Mr Hasna Al Wali Thursday, 12 January 2012 On 6 January 2012, at 10am, human rights defender Mr Hasna Al Wali was arrested in the city of Dakhla by uniformed and plain clothes officers from the Moroccan Judiciary Police. The police stated that an arrest warrant had been issued against him. He was then taken to a police detention centre in the city where he was held incommunicado before being transferred the following day to Alkuhl prison in the city of El-Ayoun. Hasna Al Wali is an adviser of the Organisation Against Torture in Dakhla, and had been sought by the police since the violent disturbances in Dakhla during the last week of September 2011, which had already led to the arrest and detention of five human rights defenders. Front Line Defenders issued appeals on their arrest on 6 October and 25 November 2011. Hasna Al Wali is being detained pending interrogation by an investigating magistrate. It is feared that he may be tortured and ill-treated in detention to force him to incriminate himself under duress.Front Line Defenders has received information about the torture and ill-treatment of human rights defenders Messrs Kamal Al Tarayh, Abd Al Aziz Barrai, Al Mahjoub Awlad Al Cheih, Mohamed Manolo and Atiqu Barrai, who were arrested in Dakhla in October and November 2011. They were reportedly beaten while held incommunicado in police custody, and forced to sign documents incriminating them under duress. At least two of the detainees had fallen ill since their arrest and Kamal Al Tarayh was admitted on 29 December 2011 to Hasan Ben Al Mahdi Hospital in the city of El-Ayoun suffering from severe back pain. Al Mahjoub Awlad Al Cheih is also reported to be suffering from back pain but has not been taken to hospital or provided with medical care. The arrest of Hasna Al Wali is part of an ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders in Western Sahara. Front Line Defenders believes that his arrest and detention are directly related to his legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights, particularly with regard to his advocacy in favour of the self-determination of Moroccan-administered Western Sahara. Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned for the physical and psychological integrity and security of Hasna Al Wali, particularly considering that he may be at risk of being subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Source: Front Line Defenders’ website, click here to read original article. —————– Update on Saharawi political prisoners’ hunger strike UPDATE! Wednesday, 7 December 2011. End of hunger strike declaration: - Intervention in the military justice and commitment to provisionally free those who are seriously ill, as it is the case of Ahmed Dawdi and Ayoub Mohamed - Speed up the trial process and assure that all the conditions are fair, allowing international observers in all the steps of the trial - Legal action against the executioner Younes Albo Aziz - Almost all the inside demands of the prisoners have been answered Because of all the above, we have decided to end the hunger strike that had started on the 31st of October of 2011 to achieve our rights. We, the Saharawi political prisoners, are grateful and have tremendous respect for all the associations, organizations and committees, and the international parties and all the free people of the world, and all the noble personalities, parliamentarians, journalists, writers, professors, students, artists, and all the societies and alive and calm consciousness that have supported and helped us in our situations which lasted 38 days of suffering and fight against illness, hunger and pain. Saharawi political prisoners, Gdiem Izik Group, Salé Prison (Morocoo) – Wednesday, 7th December of 2011 —————– Monday 5 December 2011. Translated from text in Spanish by Roubiouali Roubiouali on Friday 2 December 2011 with additions from a few other independent sources. Today it is the 33rd day of hunger strike. The Saharawi political prisoners who are on hunger strike have already become seriously ill and their health is increasingly deteriorating. Their symptoms are the following: - Sid Ahmed Lemjiyed is suffering from serious kidney and ankle pain. – Etawbali Abdallahi is suffering from fainting and serious stomach pain. – Mohamed Juna Babit is suffering from vomiting, fainting and stomach pain. - Mohamed Bani is suffering from kidney pain, fainting and some pain in his right eye. – Sidi Abdallahi Abbahah is suffering from strong back pain and has had to be vaccinated inside of the prison today. Due to their illness, the Saharawi political prisoners Hassana Eddah, Ibrahim Ismali, Mohamed Mabarak Lafakir and Daich Dafi have not been able to attend the trial with the examining magistrate, even though they had received an invitation to do so. The Saharawi political prisoner Mohamed Bani’s state is worse than the rest, with a serious kidney pain. As a result of the international solidarity that the Saharawi political prisoners have received, the Moroccan State has had to send a committee to dialogue with them. This committee is chaired by the secretary general of the Moroccan National Human Rights Council, Mohamed Sabar, accompanied by another member of the council and by the legal advisor of the delegation of the prison department Abd Salam Azaria. This committee has promised to answer to the demands and rights of the political prisoners. They have also asked them to stop the hunger strike, but the Saharawi political prisoners have confirmed that they are going to continue with the hunger strike until they see their demands and rights answered and they are satisfied with the promises made to them. A lot of activists, especially in Spanish cities and among the Saharawi communities, have organised hunger strikes in solidarity with them. A lot of organisations wrote in support but, as usual, they are invisible to the media. WESTERN SAHARA: the invisible struggle of the indigenous Saharawis By Danielle Smith, Founding Director of Sandblast INTRODUCTION For the indigenous Saharawis November the 6th represents the equivalent of the Palestinian Nakba and the pre-mature shattering of their collective dreams for independence and statehood. Indeed the story of the Saharawi people’s quest for their independence has been a long one. It started over 40 years ago and continues today. Yet the story rarely makes news and is still largely unknown. The Saharawi homeland of Western Sahara- roughly the size of Great Britain- is now Africa’s last colony. The tens of thousands of Saharawis under Morocco’s illegal occupation live as a minority in their own land, with no basic rights and freedoms, while the majority today live as refugees in a remote and harsh corner of the southwestern desert of Algeria, dependent on international aid to survive. BACKGROUND TO CURRENT CONFLICT Over centuries, a fusion of Berber, West African, Yemenite and Islamic influences helped shaped their cross-roads desert culture. It was built on rich oral traditions and poetry was revered as one of the highest forms of human expression. Saharawi traditions, history and identity were passed on orally from generation to generation. But the impact of protracted refugee life and Morocco’s aggressive integrationist policies in Western Sahara have seriously disrupted this process of cultural transmission. And as the elders die out, many aspects of Saharawi culture risk disappearing over the next generation. The Western Sahara of today was gradually colonized by Spain through a series of trade agreements with the local Saharawi tribes, during the voracious scramble for Africa, Then a century later when Spain finally withdrew, at the end of 1975, it secretly and illegally handed over administrative control to Morocco and Mauritania as part of the Tripartite Madrid Accords. Rather than honor their promises to Saharawis, the Iberian metropolis had caved into the spurious sovereignty claims made by their neighbours and left the indigenous population to face another and more brutal form of colonialism. Spain’s act is considered an historical betrayal which denied the Saharawis their internationally recognized right to self-determination. This right has been enshrined by numerous UN resolutions passed since 1960 for the decolonization of indigenous peoples of non self-governing territories. And it was again reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion ruling of October 16, 1975, which also refuted the sovereignty claims of Morocco and Mauritania. But none of these legal considerations were able to stop the tragedy that would unfold. INVASION, WAR, EXODUS The invasion of Western Sahara provoked a mass exodus. Women and children fled to camps set up by the Polisario Front in the interior regions of the country. But within the first months of the war, in February 1976, these camps were attacked by Moroccan planes with napalm and cluster bombs. Many were killed. The Saharawi liberation fighters could not protect their own, so the remaining population had to seek refuge in the inhospitable Hamada desert of Algeria: the only country bordering Western Sahara which was not invading it. THE REFUGEES IN ALGERIA Four large camps, each bearing the name of a city in Western Sahara, house close to 160,000 refugees. With huge determination and resourcefulness, they have managed, over the past 35 years, to lay the foundations of a state-in-exile. Aid agencies and NGOs provide vital assistance, but it is the Saharawis themselves who run the camps. In fact they see themselves more as citizens of a nascent nation, rather than as refugees, with their own government, the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, recognized by over 60 countries worldwide. A remarkable side of the refugee story has been the huge advances made in raising the educational level of the population. Less than 10% were literate in 1975, whereas now that level is over 90%. Women have made impressive strides, with graduates in the fields of law, engineering, economics, medicine and diplomacy. Despite these remarkable achievements, the stark truth remains that the Saharawi refugees are entirely dependent on aid to survive, and unemployment is around 80%. They are a vulnerable population with extremely limited possibilities: there is no future for young educated adults to develop and find meaningful work. CEASE-FIRE, THE UN, HUMAN RIGHTS Although the cease-fire still holds and the UN peacekeeping forces, MINURSO, have been stationed on the ground since 1991, a resolution to the conflict looks more elusive than ever. Morocco has been taking advantage of the relative stability of the no-war, no-peace situation to consolidate its occupation further, moving in large numbers of settlers as part of its Moroccanisation policy, destroying symbols of the Saharawi heritage in the territory, building new infrastructure and exploiting the natural resources. The indigenous Saharawis meanwhile have been getting increasingly frustrated and restive at the lack of any positive development. They deeply distrust the Moroccan regime, which is responsible for the disappearance of more than 500 Saharawis since 1975, and which systematically abuses their human rights. Leading human rights organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Frontline, Robert F Kennedy Centre and others, have consistently reported the practice of torture, killings, illegal detention, harassment and lack of freedom of expression, association and movement under the Moroccan occupation. Any Saharawi expression of cultural identity is suppressed and through the educational system the Moroccan authorities impose another language and history on the native population. SAHARAWI RESISTANCE This intifada of 2005 represented another turning point. It signalled a shift in the political struggle: the refugee camps were no longer primarily shaping the course of events. New Saharawi activists and leaders, under the occupation, were emerging and directly facing their oppressors. Sources close to the action indicate that more than 50% of Saharawi youth became politicised during this uprising. Fourteen to twenty-five year-olds were now becoming the most significant political force. This is highlighted by the growing numbers of youths who have come to the camps to escape persecution from the Moroccan authorities. Just as women have played a central role in the refugee side of the story, women under the occupation have been prominent in leading the non-violent resistance. No account of the Saharawi struggle would be complete or accurate without acknowledging their protagonism, on either side of the wall. One woman, in particular, Aminatou Haidar, stands out for her enormous valour and convictions. A Nobel peace-prize nominee, she has suffered terribly for her peaceful human rights activism. Twice she single-handedly stood up to the Moroccan regime. First in 2005, when she refused to stop leading peaceful demonstrations calling for self-determination. For this she was beaten until she was close to death, and imprisoned for 7 months. Then at the end of 2009 she staged a 34 day hunger strike at the Lanzarote airport to protest her expulsion from her homeland for refusing to say she was a Moroccan. An unprecedented build up of international pressure forced Morocco to take Aminatou back, an extraordinary victory for an extraordinary individual willing to go to the end for her people’s dignity and rights. WESTERN SAHARA AND THE ARAB SPRING It is true that no country officially recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty claims or its de facto annexation of Western Sahara. But it is equally true that the international community has failed to show genuine resolve to ensure Saharawi rights are protected and exercised. Morocco, with its powerful friends in the West, has been able to act with virtual impunity so far. Lately, the UN has been targeted by campaigners for not including human rights monitoring within its mandate in Western Sahara. The question of human rights was mentioned for the first time during the mandate’s renewal in April, but, again, the outcome fell short of actually providing for active human rights monitoring. The rights of the Saharawi people have been ignored for too long and the story has been invisible for too long. Ultimately justice must prevail. And so the struggle continues……  Moroccan authorities kidnap Saharawi writer and political prisoner from his cell in Tiznit Prison Saturday 4 June 2011 Press Release from Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union The family of the Saharawi writer and political prisoner, Mustapha Abdaiem, informed today that their son was kidnapped Saturday in the early morning from his cell by guards and was transferred to an unknown place. He was nominated by Sandblast, in 2010, for the Freedom to Create prize and shortlisted for his anthology of short stories “I Want A Dawn“, which includes stories about his experiences of going on hunger strike in prison. The Saharawi writer imprisoned since 2008 because of his political views in favour of the independence of Western Sahara, was not given the chance to put on his clothes, according to his cell comrades, and he was kidnapped along with another Saharawi political prisoner, Mahmoud Abou Alqasem. In a phone call last Thursday, the writer was able to tell the Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union that he fears from a possible attack from the Moroccan authorities because of his writings that are published on the website of the Union, in which he expresses his political views. The family of the prisoner further affirmed that Mustapha was kidnapped and all his belongings were confiscated, and none could tell where he was transferred. The family holds the Moroccan authorities accountable for this new violation of the Saharawi prisoners’ rights, and demands a quick rectification. It also demands to be informed about the whereabouts of their son. On the meanwhile the Saharawi politicial prisoners in the prison of Tiznit, who were attacked the same day with their two kidnapped comrades, declared that they will enter an unlimited hunger strike in protest against this new violation of their rights. It should be recalled that the Moroccan authorities have confiscated all their belongings such as money, books, cell phones..etc Mustapha Abd Daiem was born in March 1962 in the Moroccan city of Sale, he graduated in Philosophy from the university of Mohamed V in Rabat in 1984, and graduated from the Regional Centre of Teachers in El Qunaitira (Morocco) in 1986, to work as a teacher of Arabic language and Islamic sciences. Meanwhile, he worked as a reporter to many Moroccan newspapers, especially: “El Watan”, “Al Alam Assiyasi”, “Al Ahdath Almaghribiya” and used to publish in many other Moroccan newspapers. In 2006 he became a member of UPES, and started publishing short stories and articles on the UPES website, criticising the Moroccan authorities’ violations in Western Sahara and unveiling the truth about many phenomenon and realities on the ground. He used to be very active in Moroccan political parties and civil society, and is an ex-member of : “the Moroccan socialist youth”, “Ex-Member of the Bureau of the Moroccan youth workshops”, “Ex-Member of the Bureau of the Popular childhood”. In December 2007, he was one of many Saharawis who decided to found a Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Zag (a city in the south of Morocco) and he was elected Secretary General of the new human rights body. Because of his writing and criticism to the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, and because he clearly indicates that he is for an independent Western Sahara, Mustapha Abd Daiem started having problems with the Moroccan authorities, especially since 2005, when he started working in the city of Zag and Assa, where there is a majority of Saharawis. As a journalist, he kept reporting in his articles about the Moroccan serious human rights’ violations and abuses in these two cities and in the other cities of Western Sahara under Moroccan occupation, and this didn’t suit the authorities in the city, who tried many time to intimidate him, the members of his family and his friends. In 8 December 2006, he tried to make an end to his life in public, by pouring fuel on his body aiming to set himself on fire. Saharawi population in the street stopped him from doing so in the last minute. In March 2007, he was attacked by a person on the sold of the Moroccan authorities, who tried to kill him. The result of the attack for the Saharawi journalist and writer was a broken arm and he was officially advised by his doctor to take 60 days off to recover (in an official certificate). The Moroccan police didn’t arrest the criminal, and instead, the Saharawi journalist was brought before the Moroccan persecutor. In October 2008, Mr. Mustapha Abd Daiem was arrested on the 28th October 2008, in the city of Assa (south of Morocco), because he clearly expressed support to Saharawi demonstrators in the city who were confronting Moroccan forces after the latter attacked their peaceful sit-in the same day. When he heard about the serious attacks by the Moroccan forces against many Saharawi families’ houses (many were ransacked) he decided to release his students to give them a chance to go help their parents. He also decided to lower the Moroccan flag “as a sign of sadness and solidarity with the victims of the attack”, he said in a testimony that he sent to UPES from his prison, and published on the website. The same day of his arrest in Assa, his sister Khadija was arrested in the city of Dakhla (a city in Western Sahara occupied by Morocco). Khadija had a misunderstanding with a Moroccan settler who works with the secret police, she went to complain at the police station, and instead of arresting or calling the Moroccan settler for interrogation, she found herself accused of a so-called “attack against a public agent while doing his duty”. The Saharawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union (UPES) would like to inform all international human rights organisations, associations, and the UN’s relevant bodies that it is deeply concerned about the fate and physical and moral safety of Mr. AbdDaiem, and calls on them to adopt the necessary demarches to help release him as soon as possible, especially that he was judged in the absence of his lawyers in the trial in the Moroccan court of appeal in Agadir simply because they were even not informed about the date of the trial. Sandblast director, Danielle Smith, reports on 30 day hunger strike by 24 year old Saharawi at UNHCR in the refugee camps By Danielle Smith, April 5, 2011 Mohamed Hallab is ready to sacrifice his life for his human rights. He has been staging a hunger strike at the UNHCR headquarters in the refugee camps, in SW Algeria, since March 7th. He is literally dying to see his family. I met with him 3 times during my 2-week trip in March for Sandblast’s Studio-Live project. Mohamed is protesting Morocco’s denial to allow him to visit his family in Western Sahara where his mother lives and is very ill. He was on the list to travel from the camps in early March, but was told at the last moment that he would be arrested by the Moroccan authorities upon arrival in Western Sahara. So the UN pulled him off the list. Since 2004, the UN has been running a humanitarian programme to reunite Saharawi families on either side of the 2500km long “Berm” in Western Sahara. Up to 30 Saharawis fly out each week from the camps in SW Algeria and from Moroccan – occupied Western Sahara – for 5-day visits. Thousands wait in hope on either side to be told they will be able to fly out. On these visits, family members are sometimes seeing one another for the first time in 35 years. The Moroccan authorities claim Mohamed is wanted for violent activities committed by him and other Saharawis in the occupied capital of Al-Auin during the first non-violent uprising in 1999. But according to Mohamed he never engaged in any violence. He only partook in peaceful acts of resistance, organising demonstrations, distributing leaflets, writing slogans on walls calling for independence in Western Sahara. He escaped to the refugee camps in 2002 after a group of his friends were imprisoned and sentenced for their political activities. Reports from legal observers and leading human rights organizations claim that Morocco regularly treats these kinds of political acts as criminal acts and does not allow any freedom of expression on the question of Moroccan sovereignty claims in Western Sahara. It is not the first time that Morocco has rejected Saharawis on lists, preventing them from traveling to Western Sahara from the camps. According to Abdesalem, the head of AFAPREDESA, the Saharawi human rights organization based in the camps, there have been around 2400 cases since the programme began. “The Polisario has never rejected anyone coming from the Moroccan side,” says the head of the UN family exchange programme George Mendes. I learnt during my visit that in fact a significant number of young Saharawis, who had escaped from Western Sahara, over the past 10 years to the camps, have been prevented from visiting their families. The difference this time is that Mohamed Hallab has decided to stand up for his rights. In doing so he is exposing the politicised nature of an operation which is meant to be a purely humanitarian one. I saw Mohamed on my last day in the camps on March 18th, 11 days into his hunger strike. He was weak but in high spirits. The first demonstration was organized on that day in support of him in front of the UNHCR headquarters. I attended it along with around 100 other people both Saharawi and foreigners in the camps. No Saharawi media had come to cover his story yet and no member of the Polisario leadership had visited him, facts which I found perplexing and disturbing. I confess that I did not think he would carry on his hunger strike this long and go on, even if that meant to his death. I thought he was bluffing. Now I feel humbled and ashamed that I did not believe in the depth of his conviction. Maybe it is more a reflection on myself and the fact that I have never had my convictions tested in such fundamental ways. I feel we live in a world that has largely lost its sense of principle and so it is hard to imagine making this ultimate sacrifice for what you believe in. It also reminds me that many of the freedoms and rights we enjoy today exist precisely because individuals of previous generations took the path of courage and principle. It is easy to forget the price we have to pay for freedom. Freedom rarely ever comes for free. Today I received a statement that was made by Mohamed to express his position to the world unequivocally. He wanted to make things clear while he is still lucid and able to express himself. His words have deeply moved me. I want to share them with you. “I declare my determination to continue protesting for my right with all available peaceful means, and no matter what sacrifices I have to make. Therefore, I call on all those who want to support me to respect my will to adopt peaceful and civilized ways of protest, and to avoid any violence, provocation or impatience for any reason, because I strongly believe that violence is the weapon of the weak and the option of those who do not have rights and convincing arguments.” He concludes: “To all I say: “A right will never be lost as long as there is someone claiming it, and I will honor my oath until God does what He may.” How many more young lives will need to be sacrificed before the world recognizes the justice of the Saharawi cause and governments are willing to set aside their own narrow self interest and stand up for a people’s rights.
“Human Rights Activists launch ‘Don’t Go To Morocco’ Campaign” by Free Western Sahara Network on December 7, 2010
Following the Moroccan government’s announcement this week that it plans to double its tourism in the next 10 years activists today launched a new campaign aimed at highlighting human rights abuses in occupied Western Sahara and asking tourists to boycott holidaying in Morocco. The new action – Don’t Go Morocco – was launched in London today by the Western Sahara Campaign and the Free Western Sahara Network at a meeting in Piccadilly. Campaigners then spent the afternoon outside Morocco’s main tourism office in Regents’ Street handing out leaflets detailing the discrimination, abuse and violence suffered by the native Saharawi population under Morocco’s 35 year unlawful occupation of their country. On Tuesday Moroccan tourism minister Yassir Znagui unveiled a tourism development plan which would see the expansion of tourism over the next decade in eight regions including Western Sahara. Morocco annexed Western Sahara after Spain pulled out of its former colony in 1976, and despite international condemnation and numerous United Nations resolutions requiring a referendum on self-determination the referendum has to be held. Cities on Western Sahara’s Atlantic coastline such as Dakhla will be developed into thriving tourist destinations. This announcement comes just weeks after violent clashes in Western Sahara which resulted in several deaths, over one hundred injuries and many arrests. A report from Human Rights Watch last Friday found that Saharawi detainees had been beaten and abused. The violence in El Ayoun has been condemned by the United Nations Security Council and last week the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for an independent UN investigation into the violence. This call has so far been rejected by Rabat. Natalie Sharples of the Western Sahara Campaign said today: Cathy Jamieson, MP for Kilmarnock & Loudoun said today: Source: Free Western Sahara Network on Indymedia UK
“HRW Calls for Investigation into Violence used by Moroccan Security Forces” by Human Rights Watch on November 26, 2010
“The security forces have the right to use proportionate force to prevent violence and protect human life, but nothing can justify beating people in custody unconscious,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Following the initial violent confrontations, Moroccan security forces participated with Moroccan civilians in retaliatory attacks on civilians and homes, and blocked wounded Sahrawis from seeking medical treatment. Such conduct, and the beating of persons in custody, cannot be viewed as force used legitimately to prevent or stop violent acts by some demonstrators such as stone-throwing or arson, Human Rights Watch said. In the aftermath of the violence on November 8, Moroccan security officials detained hundreds of Sahrawis in connection with the disturbances, more than 100 of whom are still being held. Another nine have been transferred to Rabat for investigation by a military court, Sahrawi human rights lawyers in El-Ayoun told Human Rights Watch. Restricted Access to Information After the tent camp was dismantled, Moroccan authorities tightly limited access to El-Ayoun, allowing few journalists or representatives of nongovernmental organizations to reach the city and turning back many who tried. A Human Rights Watch researcher was prevented twice from boarding a flight to El-Ayoun on November 11, and finally flew there on November 12. The researcher and Human Rights Watch’s El-Ayoun-based research assistant were able, from November 12 to 16, to interview injured civilians and police officers in hospitals and at homes. They also met with Mohamed Jelmous, governor of the El-Ayoun-Boujdour-Saguia el-Hamra region. “We are glad Morocco changed course and allowed Human Rights Watch to carry out an investigation in El-Ayoun,” Whitson said. “But a government that says repeatedly that it has nothing to hide should prove that by allowing all media and nongovernmental organizations to come and to collect information without obstacles.” Overview Human Rights Watch focused its investigation on human rights abuses following the dismantling of the Gdeim Izik camp – not on the nature of the protest at the camp, the decision to close it, or the way it was closed down. Human Rights Watch does not have its own tally of civilians or security force members killed during the events. According to Moroccan authorities, nine members of the security forces were killed during the operation at Gdeim Izik camp on the morning of November 8, and another died during the disturbances later that day in El-Ayoun. The eleventh died on November 17 from wounds he incurred during the disturbances. One civilian died of injuries sustained during the security force operation at Gdeim Izik, a second after a vehicle hit him in during the unrest in El-Ayoun. The public prosecutor ordered a judicial inquiry into the latter case, a government statement said. Human Rights Watch told ministry of interior officials in Rabat on November 18 of its evidence that security forces had opened fire in the city of El-Ayoun, wounding civilians, and of other violent attacks by members of the security forces on Sahrawis, both those at liberty and those in detention. The following day, Moroccan authorities again issued a denial, writing to Human Rights Watch that, “The security forces’ operations when dismantling the camp of Gdeim Izik as well as its operations in El-Ayoun were conducted in conformity with the legal procedures in place, in strict respect for what is required of a state that respects the rule of law, and without a single shot being fired.” At the same time, they wrote, “Moroccan authorities are ready to start investigations and the necessary forensic work to fully clarify the basis for these allegations. Moreover, those persons who allege having been subjected to violence, whether or not they are in custody, are completely free to go to court themselves to file suits to establish the validity of their assertions.” On November 20, the government announced that, on the basis of the report from Human Rights Watch, the crown prosecutor at the El-Ayoun Appeal Court had opened an inquiry into “allegations of persons having been injured by bullets” during the disturbances in El-Ayoun. Human Rights Watch intends to monitor any official investigation as well as the treatment accorded to victims of abuse who file a complaint. The security forces involved in the events come from various groups. The troops who intervened at the camp included gendarmes and the Auxiliary Forces, an interior ministry statement said. The forces involved in El-Ayoun included the regular police force, special anti-riot units (groupes d’intervention rapide, or GIR), and the Auxiliary Forces. The latter assists other branches of the security forces and is not part of the interior ministry. The Human Rights Watch research mission identified the following possible abuses by security forces. Some of those who spoke with Human Rights Watch gave permission to use their names, while others, fearing reprisal, asked the researchers to withhold their names. Abuses in Detention The witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch had severe bruising and other recent wounds that suggested they had been beaten in custody. Family members of detainees told Human Rights Watch that Moroccan authorities failed to inform them about the detentions for several days and that, as of November 23, the authorities had still not permitted them to visit relatives detained up to two weeks earlier, although defense lawyers had been able to see them for the first time on that day. These delays made it difficult for many families to promptly establish the whereabouts of missing persons or to get information about their treatment in detention. Human Rights Watch urged authorities immediately to inform next of kin for each person taken into custody, as required by Morocco’s Code of Penal Procedure, article 67. The Sahrawis held in El-Ayoun prison were being investigated on charges such as formation of a criminal gang of with the aim of committing crimes against persons and property, possession of arms, destruction of public property, and participation in hostage-taking and the sequestration of persons, in setting fire to buildings, in the use of violence against members of the forces of order resulting in injury and death, and in armed gatherings. Ahmed Jadahlou Salem, 34, told Human Rights Watch that he arrived at the Gdeim Izik protest camp the evening of November 7, after making the long drive from Spain. On the morning of the crackdown, he said, gendarmes at the camp detained and handcuffed him, then beat and kicked him with their boots until he lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, still at the camp, he was again kicked several times in the chest by the gendarmes, who then threw him into the back of a truck: About 30 or 40 of us were put in the back of the gendarmes’ truck. All of us were handcuffed behind our backs. They just threw us inside the van like cattle; some of us had head wounds, and we were all bleeding. We were lying on top of each other, and they left us like this for one or two hours, ordering us to keep our heads down. Jadahlou said that when the truck reached El-Ayoun, the men were dragged out by their feet and marched into the gendarme station, while being punched and kicked. They were kept in a room that, he said, by November 9 housed 72 male detainees. Jadahlou described to Human Rights Watch how each person was called out of the common room for questioning, and said men kicked and punched him along the way: In the interrogation room, there were maybe six gendarmes, but others kept coming and going. There was no chair to sit on in the room, and each question was asked with a kick or a slap. They asked many questions – what I was doing in the camp, why we wanted a state of our own. They asked me about many persons by name. They threatened to rape me there. Jadahlou said the gendarmes tossed urine on the detainees. They provided no food until the evening of November 10, thirty-six to sixty hours after the men were detained. At night, the gendarmes threw water on the floor of the cell to interrupt their sleep. The police released Jadahlou on November 12 without charge. A second former detainee, Laassiri Salek, 38, told Human Rights Watch that the police detained him at his home in the Columina Nueva neighborhood around midday on November 9. He told Human Rights Watch that, although he was handcuffed and blindfolded, he is fairly certain they transported him to the city’s central police station. There, he said, he was beaten during the course of five hours with wooden sticks and batons, causing him to lose consciousness twice. The police revived him by pouring water on him. He could hear other detainees nearby screaming in pain, he said. After the long beating session, during which various police officers came and went, he was taken for interrogation where, he said, he continued to be beaten on his head, back, and kidney area with clubs. Salek told Human Rights Watch that the police forced detainees to sing the Moroccan national anthem, beating them if they did not know the words. Police threw cold water on them and did not give them food for the first two days. On the evening of November 10, he said, the police ordered the detainees to stand in one line, still blindfolded, as police officers ran up and kicked them hard with their boots. Salek again lost consciousness. When the police released him the next day, he was unable to walk and had to be carried out of the station in a chair and driven home in a taxi. He was still in a wheelchair when interviewed by Human Rights Watch on November 16, five days after his release. Leila Leili, a 36-year-old Sahrawi activist, was detained outside her father’s home close to Smara Avenue in the Lacheicha neighborhood on November 9, after police found in her purse an essay she wrote about the events of the previous day. She told Human Rights Watch that the police officers first took her into a nearby private building, where one policeman punched her in the face. She was kept there for several hours, then transferred to the central police station. There she complained to the police officers that the officers who detained her had let several Moroccans armed with knives go free, but had detained all the Sahrawi civilians they had stopped. She recalls: Because of this [complaint], they started beating me with sticks on my head and back, and also kicking me. I don’t know how many they were, because I was blindfolded. They ordered me to shout pro-Moroccan slogans like “Long Live the King,” and to say that I was Moroccan. I told them that I respect their King and the Moroccan people, but am not Moroccan. There were others being beaten in the same room and being forced to say the same things. Leili was then subjected to a long interrogation about her activist work, her trips to Algeria and Spain, and the work of her association and its membership. Following the interrogation, she was made to sit in the corridor of the police station, and was regularly kicked and beaten by police officers who walked by. She told Human Rights Watch: “They put me in the corridor and everyone who walked by would beat me. They would ask, ‘What is she doing here?’ and one would respond, ‘She says she is not Moroccan,’ and then they would kick or beat me. Attacks on Sahrawi Homes Human Rights Watch visited the Haï Essalam and Colomina Nueva neighborhoods, where numerous homes of Sahrawis were attacked on November 8 and 9 by groups that included security force members and people in street clothes, some of whom appeared to be Moroccan civilians, the inhabitants reported. The people interviewed described how assailants beat residents inside their homes and damaged property. Authorities have reportedly taken steps to compensate homeowners for damage, but have not, as far as Human Rights Watch has been able to determine, announced any arrests or charges against Moroccan civilians implicated in the violence. A 30-year-old resident of the Columina Nueva neighborhood described how a group of Moroccan civilians gathered in front of his home, near Moulay Ismaïl Street, at about 3 p.m. on November 8. The Moroccans were accompanied by plain clothes police, identifiable by the protective gear they were wearing, and uniformed policemen armed with tear gas and handguns. The civilians broke into his home and hit him on the head with a machete, leaving him unconscious and with a deep gash. His brother watched as the civilians ransacked his home, stealing televisions, kitchen equipment, and many more valuable items, and destroying windows and furniture. About a dozen Sahrawi homes on or near Moulay Ismaïl Street were invaded and damaged. Two blocks away, a group of about 40 soldiers and police officers invaded the home of two older women at 10:30 a.m. on November 8. The women said that the invaders fired anti-riot shotgun shells with plastic pellets into the home, told the family to leave, and stole a computer and jewelry. In one such attack in Colomina Nueva, a group of Moroccan civilians and police entered a Sahrawi home at 1:30 p.m. on November 8, where the police found a group of seven unarmed Sahrawi men hiding in a small room on the roof. Four of the men, whom Human Rights Watch interviewed on November 16, said the police attacked them, shooting one in the lower left leg with live ammunition from a small-caliber pistol, firing anti-riot shotgun cartridges with plastic pellets at the group causing superficial wounds, and beating them severely with a heavy butane gas canister and sticks. One of the men, a 28-year-old who eight days later said he was still unable to move his right arm because of the severity of the beatings, recounted the attack: The police broke into the house and came in armed, and then broke down the door to the room we were hiding in. One policeman beat me with a butane gas canister, raising it over his head and throwing it at me, first on my arm and then on my foot. He was cursing us and saying “You are all Polisario.” Then they beat us with sticks, and they fired their guns at us. They forced us to face the wall and continued to beat us. We were seven [civilians], and there were nine or so police. The police rounded up the men and led them downstairs. Along the way, some of the Moroccan civilians who had entered the house beat them, they later told Human Rights Watch. They were put in a car and taken to the regional police headquarters (Préfecture de la Sûreté Nationale), where they were held for two days, then released without charge. When Human Rights Watch visited the rooftop room on November 16, the floor and walls were stained by blood. The men showed the researchers pistol and plastic pellet riot control shotgun cartridges that, the men said, lay on the ground on the roof after the police had assaulted them. Residents of some streets where houses were damaged on November 8 and 9 said that later in the week, interior ministry officials came through and arranged to provide some financial compensation. Governor Mohamed Jelmous also told Human Rights Watch that property owners were being compensated. The police impeded access to the main civilian hospital in El-Ayoun for much of November 8, in some cases assaulting Sahrawi civilians who sought treatment for injuries, according to more than one witness we interviewed. A hospital worker told Human Rights Watch that he observed one attack in which police broke the windows of a taxi that drove up to the hospital carrying three wounded Sahrawis, and beat both the wounded men and the taxi driver, before letting the taxi driver go and detaining the three passengers. Several Sahrawis who had been beaten said they did not go to the hospital for treatment, saying they feared the police there. Police Assault Human Rights Researcher on Street Police beat Human Rights Watch’s El-Ayoun-based research assistant Brahim Alansari on an El-Ayoun street, when he was in the company of John Thorne, the Rabat-based correspondent for The National, the Abu Dhabi English-language daily. On November 8 at about 9 a.m., at a time when protesters were throwing stones and security forces were massing in the streets, police stopped the two men on a side street behind the Negjir Hotel in downtown El-Ayoun and demanded to know what they were doing there. After Alansari and Thorne gave their names and professions, the police separated the two men. Alansari described what happened next: Policemen surrounded me and started to kick me and beat me with their sticks and slap me. They asked me my nationality. When I refused to answer, they seemed angered and started to beat me again. Then a higher-ranking officer arrived and ordered me to reply. I said that I cannot talk while being beaten. He did not order the others to stop hitting me…. One of the police escorted me to where John [Thorne] was seated in a chair. The policeman forced me to sit on the ground next to John, saying that I am a dog and that was my place. After about ten or twenty minutes some policemen approached and told Mr. Thorne to return to his hotel and not to do any work. Then the man in plainclothes asked me not to accompany Mr. Thorne or to take him anywhere and that I should instead go home and stay out of trouble. They returned my phone and ID and gave John his passport, and we both left. Thorne told Human Rights Watch that he could see the beating from where he was forced to sit, about 15 feet away: Around a dozen police – some in green jumpsuits, others in blue riot gear – surrounded Brahim and began beating him. I could not see how many policemen struck Brahim, but I could see that he was struck with hands and batons at least twenty times during a few minutes. Then the police made Brahim sit next to me. Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Moroccan authorities on November 23, detailing this incident and requesting that it be investigated. On November 24 the ministry of interior replied that it had opened an administrative investigation and that the ministry of justice had asked the office of the prosecutor in El-Ayoun to conduct a judicial investigation. Human Rights Watch intends to report on the outcome of these inquiries. Background The present conflict over Western Sahara dates to 1975, when Spain, the former colonial power, withdrew and Morocco moved in and seized control over the sparsely-populated desert territory. Morocco has since claimed sovereignty and administered Western Sahara as if it were part of Morocco, even though the UN does not recognize that sovereignty and classifies Western Sahara as a “non-self-governing territory.” The Polisario Front, the Western Saharan independence movement, fought a war against Morocco until 1991, when the UN brokered a ceasefire alongside an agreement to organize a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara’s population. The referendum has not taken place because of the objections of Morocco, which rejects independence as an option and proposes instead to grant Western Sahara a measure of autonomy under Moroccan rule. The Polisario continues to insist on a referendum that includes independence as one option. Negotiations to bridge this gap have so far been fruitless. Meanwhile, large numbers of Moroccans have migrated south and settled in Western Sahara, where they now outnumber the Sahrawis who are indigenous to the region. Under Moroccan rule, advocacy of independence is considered an “attack on territorial integrity,” punishable by law. While not all pro-independence activities in Western Sahara are nonviolent – in some cases, youths threw stones and gas bombs during the recent clashes and damaged property – even nonviolent protests are systematically shut down by the security forces, and nonviolent activists are subjected to unfair trials and imprisonment.” Source: Human Rights Watch (November 26, 2010)
by CEAS-Sahara on November 12, 2010
Morocco’s army recently violently dismantled the Saharawi protest camp “Agdaym Izik”. Many of the people who were there have fled into the desert and most have returned to the city of El Aaiún (Laayoune, capital of Western Sahara). The Saharawi population is being chased by gangs of armed settlers encouraged by the Moroccan government and by the occupying army. We are launching a campaign to pressure the European Parliament to stand up to its responsibility and make a stand, thus trying to stop human rights violations in Western Sahara. The campaign consists of sending a letter to MEPs. It entails the dissemination of a very simple form, which can easily be integrated into any website or blog. Try it out on http://www.sahararights.net by choosing your own language and sending your MEP your letter. To participate in the campaign you can do two things: The aim of this campaign is that every person sends a personal email, not “copying and pasting” texts, but in their own words (much more effective than receiving the same text 100 times). Multiply that by the number of MEPs of each country, and they will receive hundreds of thousands of emails. We believe that given this amount of popular and media pressure, the European Parliament will be forced to act and help stop the repression.
by Karameloo News España (translated by Nina Murray, Sandblast) on November 5, 2010
TVE [Televisión Española] correspondent, Antonio Parreño, and Eduardo Marín, of Cadena SER, were covering the trial of seven Sahrawi activists. Police destroyed photographs from the cameras of the journalists. Two Spanish journalists have been assaulted inside the Court of First Instance of Ain Sbaa (Casablanca), where they were covering the trial of seven Saharawi activists.
Recounted one of those attacked, Antonio Parreño, a correspondent from TVE. EFE news agency reported that dozens of people leapt on him and on one of the other journalists present, Eduardo Marín of Cadena SER, as they tried to photograph the enormous commotion unleashed in the courtroom upon the appearance of the accused, who were chanting independence slogans.
Kicks, punches and stone throwing A Moroccan police officer forced one of the Spanish journalists to erase photographs he had taken. Police officers removed Parreño from the courtroom to protect him from the blows, and they moved him to one of the other rooms in the tribunal, from where he was then able to leave. For his part, Marín was also transferred by Moroccan police officers to another room in the tribunal, where he was held for more than an hour whilst he was obliged to erase the photographs that he had taken and a statement was taken from him, he later reported to EFE after being freed. The [Spanish] consul in Casablanca, Carlos de Lojendio, arrived at the tribunal to enquire about the state of the assaulted journalists, as well as the international observers (many of them Spanish) who were also inside the courtroom to witness the hearing. ‘The hearing was a deplorable one’ In the courtroom, slogans such as “We want Ceuta and Melilla” or “Long live the Basque Country” were shouted. The police also confiscated six or seven cameras from the international observers to destroy the photographs that they had taken of the incidents, indicated the Spanish lawyer Luis Mangrané. Inside the courtroom, full to overflowing with some 200 people, pro-Moroccan supporters waved Moroccan flags, portraits of King Mohamed VI and history books whilst they shouted slogans such as “We want Ceuta and Melilla” or “Long live the Basque Country”. Following the enormous upheaval caused by the aggression and the confrontations between pro-Moroccans and Saharawi sympathizers, the tribunal decided to suspend the hearing against the activists, accused of ‘threatening state security’, until the 14th of December. In recent weeks, Spanish correspondents in Morocco have been the object of harsh criticism from the Moroccan authorities and the media for what they consider to be a ‘biased’ coverage of the conflict in Western Sahara. The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Taib Fasi Fihri, in Madrid on Wednesday, accused the Spanish press of distorting the reality in his country and that of the conflict in Western Sahara, instead of focusing on the good relations between Spain and Morocco.
BBC World Service: The World Today (podcast) Podcast October 27, 2010 [click to play] “Michael Palin describes new Sahara photo exhibition as ‘tribute of hope over adversity’” by Stefan Simanowitz on November 3, 2010 Former Monty Python, Michael Palin has described an exhibition of photographs that opens on 4th November in London as “a tribute to the spirit of hope over adversity.” The exhibition which shows images from the refugee camps in the Sahara, home to over 100,000 people from Western Sahara forced from their homes in on of the world’s longest conflicts runs for two weeks in Stoke Newington. “I visited the camps on my Sahara series and was hugely impressed by the indomitable resilience of the Saharawi people” said Palin when he attended the opening of the exhibition in Hampstead in August. The exhibition “Thirst of the Dunes”, which is touring the country displays images by Brighton photographer Robert Griffin and London-based photo-journalist Stefan Simanowitz. The pair spent time in the refugee camps in the desert earlier in the year and are keen to raise awareness of the abject situation facing the Saharawis who have lived in exile in four large camps in the inhospitable Algerian desert for over three decades. Known as ‘Africa’s last colony’ Western Sahara, was given to Morocco by the Spanish when they withdrew in 1976. A 16 year war followed and a 19 year ceasefire, but the Saharawi’s displaced by the occupation have never been able to return home. “I only learned about the the plight of the Saharawi people relatively recently. It is a situation that is hard to ignore, although the international community seems to have no difficulty in doing so” says Griffin, “The refugees in the camps have nothing. They are entirely dependent on external supplies of food and water and face standstorms and temperatures of 120 degrees – but what makes their lives even worse is that no one knows they are even there.” Through his photographs the photographers have tried to capture a sense of the lives of the Saharawi and their environment. Griffin says:
Stefan Simanowitz who has reported on the situation in the Western Sahara for publications including the Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, New Statesman and the Lancet believes that the fact that we in Britain benefit from the exploitation of Western Sahara’s natural resources makes it incumbent on us to do something to help resolve the conflict. Whilst in the camps he interviewed many of the refugees and their words accompany the photographs.
The exhibition “Thirst of the Dunes” will take place at Open the Gate, 35 Stoke Newington Rd, London N16 8BJ from 4th November to 17th November 2010. The Private View will take place on November 4th from 6pm until 7pm when the event will then be opened to the public for a film-show and panel discussion. Several MP’s and celebrity guests are expected. The exhibition has been organised by the Free Western Sahara Network and the Western Sahara Campaign UK.
“Imprisoned Saharawi Artist Announced Finalist for Freedom To Create Award” by The Sandblast Team on November 2, 2010 Saharawi writer Mustapha Abdel Dayem has been announced a finalist for the prestigious Freedom to Create Award in the imprisoned artist category. Sandblast nominated him for the award for his collection of short stories “I want a dawn” published in Arabic by the Saharawi Ministry of Culture. The winner is to be announced on November 26th in Cairo. On receiving the news, Mustapha Abdel Dayem said:
“MPs Condemn Saharawi Teenager’s Death by Moroccan Forces” by Western Sahara Campaign UK on October 25, 2010 MPs have today condemned last night’s shooting in which a 14-year old Saharawi boy was killed and several others injured by the Moroccan Security Forces surrounding the Gdeim Izik protest camp in Moroccan occupied Western Sahara. Over 10,000 Saharawi protesters moved out of cities across Western Sahara in a mass exodus on the 9th October and are living in an impromptu tented city outside Al Aauin the capital of Western Sahara. Numbers in the camp are growing daily as Saharawi protesters come together to highlight the ongoing discrimination and abuse that they experience as a result of the 35 year Moroccan occupation. The Moroccan Security Forces have surrounded the camp in an attempt to prevent people from entering as well as stopping supplies of food, water and medicine reaching the camp. Several organizations including the Western Sahara Campaign have warned that this could become a major humanitarian crisis. The boy named as Garhi Nayem was part of a group attempting to enter the camp in a vehicle when it was shot at by Moroccan Security Forces. The injured, which include his brother have been taken to the military hospital in Al Aauin. Today a delegation of MPs and Peers will raise concerns over the situation in Western Sahara with Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt MP.
The protest camp was timed to coincide with the visit of UN Envoy Christopher Ross who is currently touring the region. Last week he called the current impasse over Western Sahara ‘untenable’. He arrived in Morocco on Friday as part of the preparation for the direct negotiations between the parties in November. The POLISARIO, the representatives of the people of Western Sahara have been warning the UN that action must be taken to prevent violence by the Moroccan Security forces against the protesters.
“Thousands of Saharawis Camp in Peaceful Protest” by Sidi Breika, Saharawi Deputy Representative in the UK on October 19, 2010 Thousands of Saharawi citizens have come together to peacefully protest against the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara: human rights abuses, resource theft, lack of job opportunities, poor living conditions, racism and the continuous arrival of Moroccan settlers aiming to implement a final colonization of the territory to marginalize the Saharawi people in their own land. By camping out in the outskirts of the occupied towns of Al-Aiun, Smara, Bojador and Dakhla, the Saharawis protest against the unlawful occupation of their home country. The demonstrators number more than 10 000 Saharawi citizens – all affected by Moroccan authorities’ policy. Coming from all Saharawi provinces, the protesters have joined the camp to express solidarity with the group who moved out of the city of Al-Aiun to build more than 600 hundreds tents. The president of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz and Frente Polisario has written letters to the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki Moon and to the Security Council, warning about the serious consequences that could unfold in the next hours. Moroccan army units, that were safeguarding the wall of shame, have been recently ordered to go to the camping of Gdeim Ezik, 25 km east Al-Aiun, the capital of Western Sahara, to “guard” the camps alongside police, secret agents, and helicopters that circle over the site. No traffic in or out the camps is permitted, cutting off the supply of food, water, medicines, and fuel to the demonstrators in the “Independence Camp”. Even MINURSO [UN peacekeepers] cars were refused access the camp to assess the situation. Video: Thousands of Saharawi camp outside of Al-Aiun There have been riots with Moroccan police in a similar camp that was settled by Saharawi citizens in Smara, where the demonstrators had to pass the night in the middle of the desert, east of Smara, without shelter, since Moroccan police confiscated their tents. Dozens were detained and hundreds were wounded. In Bojador and Almarsa, where people were protesting against housing for settlers instead of Saharawis, amongst other demands, the Moroccan police intervened savagely to prevent the creation of other camps. As a result more than 70 people were injured and dozens arrested. The Saharawi students in Marrakech (Faculty of Humanities) organized a stop-demonstration in solidarity with their comrades in the occupied area. We need to make the British Government, the Parliament, Media and all sympathizers with Saharawi cause to be aware of this dangerous situation taking place on the ground, precisely in these crucial moments. We need to call upon the international community to put pressure on Moroccan Kingdom to avoid a tragedy, and to stop its abusive policy against Saharawi citizens in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, but to let them exercise their right of movement and expression. We ask the British Government to make an effort to pressure the Moroccan authorities to withdraw from the siege imposed on the civilians, as well as implore the UN to intervene to protect their civil rights and to put pressure on Morocco to allow international observers visit the demonstrators and permit them have access to food, water, medicines and fuel for their transportation. Sidi Breika,
“Newsletter #6: Reporting from the Camps” by The Sandblast Team on October 18, 2010 A big hello to all Sandblast friends and supporters, Lots has been going on at Sandblast as the leaves have begun to turn and we head into Autumn – not least our intrepid group of Sahara Marathoners getting their gym gear out ready for a winter of preparation for the Sahara Marathon 2011. SIGN UP NOW! Help Sandblast raise crucial funds for its Studio-Live project in the camps to empower the Saharawis to present their culture on the global stage through their music. Reporting from the camps… Sandblast Studio-Live visit Over the next few months, Sandblast and Fairtunes will be working very hard to get together the equipment and materials needed with the help of donations (in-kind, skills, funds) and the fundraising efforts by 2010 and 2011 Saharamarathon participants. Theatre workshops with Saharawi Youth
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In the week that Morocco has announced a new tourism plan that includes developing tourist sites in occupied Western Sahara, campaigners in London have launched a new campaign under the banner: “Morocco: sun, sea, sand and torture”.
