Collectif des Défenseurs Sahraouis des droits de l'homme
El Aaiun / Sahara Occidental

collectif.shrd@gmail.com

The CODESA Secretariat,

El Aaiun, Western Sahara.

August 08, 2007.

A Detailed Report

on the Violations of Human Rights Perpetrated by the Moroccan state in the Western Sahara and against the Sahrawi Citizens in Morocco since the passing of the UN 1754 Resolution in April 2007

Preface

As the United Nations passed the Resolution 1754 in April 2007, the Moroccan state has been violating the Sahrawi human rights through waves of arbitrary arrest and abduction, torture, brutal crackdowns, breaking into the Sahrawis’ houses, banning peaceful protest demonstrations, and different kinds of illtreatment.

All this is still happening in spite of the recommendations of the international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International 2006, Human Rights Watch 2006, the UNHCHR (May 2006), Frontline 2006. The recommendations and calls on the Moroccan regime to stop such practices has not helped in reducing the Moroccan violations of human rights in the Western Sahara.

And despite the call of the resolution 1754 to both parts to start the negotiations with good faith and without any preconditions, the Moroccan state is still insisting to brutally treat the Sahrawi citizens in the territories under the Moroccan administration.

The main unlawful practices are savage beating of civilians who dare to declare their opinions concerning the Western Sahara that is different from the Moroccan regime’s point of view, breaking into their houses, the maltreatment of those taken in custody( forcing the girls arrested to sweep and clean the police centers before being released, urinating upon the Sahrawi detainees in custody, especially children ( Mohamed Boutabbaa, 14 years old), savage torture of the detainees even in front of their mothers ( for example Lmaissi Abdennasser, 14 years old), rape of some girls and boys ( Very few can mention their rape because of the social restrictions in the Arab societies ; it is a disgrace to talk about one’s rape), the inhuman torture in different places, the police vans, the judicial police centers, at schools, on the streets, in houses and mainly in remote areas at the outskirts of El Aaiun ( for example the ex-political prisoner, Mohamed Ettahlil).

The Moroccan security forces responsible for these unlawful acts are mainly the Auxiliary Forces, the Gendarmerie, the DST (Direction de Securité Territoriale) and the GUS ( Le Groupe Urbain de Securité), etc.

Different schools in the main Sahrawi cities, especially El Aaiun, are under strict police control. The judicial police agents in civil clothes have been inside the schools for the whole year controlling the Sahrawi students. All the high schools and Junior High Schools in El Aaiun, for example, have been characterized by the presence of these secret police agents spending the whole day inside the schools, moving through classes, provoking the Sahrawi students, and frequently arresting the ‘pro-independence students’ from their classes (A student in Lamsalla High School in El Aaiun, for example).

Particularly in El Aaiun, minor children have been targeted by the Moroccan security forces especially since January 2007. They have been abducted, thrown in remote areas outside the city, arrested, tortured, brutally beaten on different parts, but especially on the head, ears and the sexual organs. They have also been kept in custody for periods ranging from 48 to 72 hours, without their parents knowing, in violation of Child Rights Convention hours, without their parents knowing, in violation of the Child Rights Convention.

Chronology of the Events

On May 1st, the Sahrawi human rights activists and citizens celebrated the Day of Laborers in El Aaiun together with the Moroccan Association of Human Rights. The Sahrawi political prisoners’ families called for the release of the detainees and condemned the violations of human rights perpetrated by the Moroccan authorities against the Sahrawi citizens and activists.

The Sahrawi militants and the Moroccan ones from the AMDH and the Moroccan party Ennahj Addimouqrati distributed a release calling for the Sahrawi right to self-determination.

On May 11, 2007, the Moroccan police savagely repressed a peaceful protest demonstration in Dcheira Square at about 10:00. The demonstrators were mainly the political prisoners' families, the university students’ families. Many Sahrawis were injured (Alaaiza El Gasmi, Nanha Ahnini, Ahmad Brahim, and Brahim Ben Lbachir) and some of them arrested (Mohamed Kaziza, Mohamed Yeslem Zad-Ennas, Ali Essaadouni, Mohamed Ould Maouloud, Lahcen Laabeidi).

On May 15, 2007, the Moroccan court of appeal in El Aaiun, Western Sahara has condemned the Sahrawi political prisoners Ghali Zougham, Omar Belyazid and Cheikh Benalla to two years imprisonment, as it was 3 years in the court of first instance.
Abdessalam Daida and Mouloud Elhajaj ‘s verdicts were reduced from 3 years to 2 years and a half imprisonment.
Mohamed Salem Bahaha and Said Loumadi’s verdict was reduced from a year and a half to one year.
.
In Rabat, the capital of Morocco, Moroccan riot police wielding truncheons clashed Thursday, May 17, 2007 with Sahrawi students demanding independence for Western Sahara. Saharawi students have staged a sit-in since Monday at Mohamed V University in Rabat.

Early Thursday morning, police surprised sleeping students, beating them with truncheons as they camped out before the gate of a student housing complex.
The police arrested 10 students, bundling them into vans while still wrapped in blankets. They took money and mobile phones from students.

Police then blockaded an avenue running in front of the housing complex. In mid-morning, around 60 riot police wielding truncheons charged some 50 Saharawi students who had remained at the scene.

Police and Saharawi students also clashed a few days earlier at Hassan II University in Casablanca, Morocco.

On 22 May 2007, a Court of Appeal in El Aaiun extended the sentences of the political prisoners and human rights activists Brahim Sabbar and Ahmed Sbai detained in El Aaiun ‘Black Prison’ since June 2006.

The Moroccan repressive forces proceeded on Friday May 25, 2007 at 13: 30 GMT, with a violent and savage intervention, against the Sahrawi citizens who were demonstrating, at the Inaach district, to claim the respect of the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.
This violent and savage intervention resulted in:
Arrests:
1 - Hamza LABRAS
2 - Elmahfoud BOUTANGUIZA
3 - Mohamed Fadel ATBAL
4 - Mohamed Fadel SBAAI
5 - Mohamed Salek Elkhalil
6 - Brahim AKID

The invitation of these families to come to the Judicial Police center:
1 - family of. Laghdaf ABBA ( in Maatallah district)
2 - family of Hamdi AYACH (in Maatallah district)

The Violation and Burst into the houses of:
1 - Abdeljalil Ould Mohamed Fadel Ould Sidi Laabeid (his wife, Ghalouha TILMIDI, was savagely beaten, as well as his son Lahcen, whereas this two daughters, Azoueina and Kalthoum were arrested)
2 - Mahfoud AGOUIRINA who was arrested with his wife, Aghleina ment Barhah, and his two sons Erragueb and Naseur, as well as his daughter Khalida who is only 4 years old.
3 - Babeya Ould Bahya

The Sahrawi citizens who were arrested were released afterwards after many hours of detention and were subjected to beating and ill treatment.

In El Aaiun, Western Sahara, four Sahrawi political prisoners appeared on Tuesday May 29, 2007, before the Court of Appeal of El Aaiun. The court maintained the same sentences pronounced by the court of El Aaiun, Western Sahara, against Elwali AMIDANE , Yahdih ETAROUZI and Bachri BEN TALEB, who were condemned to five years imprisonment whereas Mr. Lamine BADA was condemned to one year and half.

The two young Sahrawis, Mohamed ELAASRI and Khatari ELBAILLAL were arrested, on Saturday May 26, 2007, near Maatallah district, at 20: 00 GMT. They were both subjected to interrogation in the judicial police center.

Mansour AJDEY was kidnapped, according to his family, and the Moroccan authorities deny being informed of his fate.

Two other young Sahrawis were arrested on Monday, May 28, 2007, by the Moroccan police force, and were subjected to heavy interrogation, between 15: 30 and 17: 00 GMT. The two Sahrawis are: Abeih Ould Sid Ahmed Ould Embarek Elaabed, born in 1989, and Mohamed Elmebrem BADRI, born in 1989.

The 17 year-old Sahrawi citizen, Omar Eddawdi, had been subjected to savage and inhuman treatment on Monday May 28, 2007. He was arrested at 22: 00 GMT and   faced horrible forms of physical and psychological torture.

On May 31, 2007, the court of first instance in Agadir, Morocco (600 kilometers south of Rabat) sentenced five Sahrawi university students; arrested On 3rd May at the university campus of Agadir , to two months’ imprisonment.

These students were organizing a peaceful demonstration calling for the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and independence while the Moroccan security forces cracked them down. They arrested many students but kept these five who were sentenced to two months imprisonment:

Ahmed Chain, a first year university Law student, Mahmoud Elfilali, a third year university History student, Mohamed Chwaiaar, a third year Arab Literature student, Lahoucine Lemghaifar, a second year French Literature university student and Abazaid Kadal, a first year university History student.

On Friday June 1, 2007, the Moroccan repressive forces arrested Mr. Bachraya LACHGAR, as a hostage, who was not released until Sunday June 3, 2007, after the arrest of his brother, Mr. Echrif LACHGAR, born in 1989, who is still detained in the center of the judicial police.

Since Friday June 1, 2007, Mr. Laaroussi ELBARBOUCHI, born in 1990, Mr. Aabidine KRAITA and Mr. Laaroussi BABEIT, were in a state of detention in the center of the judicial police. All these prisoners were savagely tortured.

On June 14, 2007, the Moroccan authorities brutally repressed a peaceful demonstration in Maatallah district in El Aaiun, WS. The protest demonstration was organized by the Sahrawi population in solidarity with the Sahrawi students at the Moroccan universities who had been savagely oppressed too the previous days (the latest was in Rabat on June 12, 2007)

On June 20th, 2007, the Moroccan court in El Aaiun, Western Sahara sentenced two Moroccan police agents responsible for the torture and murder of the Sahrawi citizen, Hamdi Lembarki at the night of 30th October, 2005 because of his participation in a peaceful protest demonstration calling for the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination and independence.

However, the CODESA notices a complete indifference of the Moroccan authorities towards the complaints handed out by some Sahrawi human rights defenders and many Sahrawi citizens, who were subjected to torture and inhuman ill-treatment, especially women and minor children.

The CODESA also expresses its concern about this kind of trials. The Moroccan Court of Appeal in Agadir, Morocco has already sentenced a Moroccan "gendarmerie" agent responsible for the torture and murder of the Sahrawi citizen, "Chwihi Slaiman" in 2005 in Guelmim, south of Morocco to 10 years' imprisonment. This verdict was cancelled in 2006 and the Moroccan agent was declared innocent.

Thus, the CODESA insists on the Moroccan state's responsibility for the crimes against humanity perpetrated against the Sahrawi citizens, and calls for the investigation in the alleged torture cases registered in the Moroccan courts.

The Moroccan authorities in El Ayun, Western Sahara are imposing a strict police control on different districts, streets and educational institutions that are hosting the end-of-year examinations. This has negatively affected the students who took their exams in difficult stressful conditions.

The Sahrawi minors and teenagers have been suffering greatly from the Moroccan police interventions at schools, their arrest and torture in different places, especially in the police vans. Some of these students were deprived of taking their exams. The case of Mohamed Boutabbaa, 17 years old is a good example. Boutabaa was arrested, spent five days being interrogated at the judicial police center, and then put in the Black Jail in El Aaiun, Western Sahara. The reason was his participation in pro-independence demonstrations.

Salah Eddine Achraf, 14 years old, and Ahmad Chtouqui, 11 years old, were also arrested by some judicial police agents. They were interrogated for a period ranging from 04 to 08 hours. They allege that they were subject to beating and inhuman treatment.
The Sahrawi young citizen, Ali Tawbbali, 20 years old, was arrested on June 14th, 2007. He spent 24 hours in the judicial police center in El Aaiun, where he was severely beaten on all his body´s parts. This resulted in injuries on his back, knees, ears and eyes.

The CODESA noticed with great concern the increase of political detention among the Sahrawi minors and young people, especially these two late months. It also remarked the Moroccan authorities´ pressure on these children and their families not to unveil these violations. They warn them not to write complaints or contact the human rights associations or publish their pictures of torture on newspapers and the web

On Tuesday, June 26, 2007, three Sahrawi political prisoners faced trial in the Court of Appeal in El Aaiun, the capital of Western Sahara.

The three prisoners were Yahdih Ettarrouzi, the Sahrawi human rights activist and member of the CODESA, who was arrested on September 13th, 2006 by secret police agents in Tantan, south of Morocco.
He was sentenced to one year of imprisonment in the court of El Aaiun, Western Sahara, on April 17th, 2007, for his participation in the pro-independence demonstrations on May 25th, 2005.

The second is the political prisoner, and member of the CODESA, Elwali Amidane arrested in mid-October, 2006, only six months after his release. The reason is his participation in the pro-independence demonstrations in August 2005 in El Aaiun.

The third is the political prisoner, Bachri Ben Taleb, who was arrested for the same reasons in late September 2006.

Both Elwali and Bachri were sentenced to 05 years imprisonment on May 17th, 2007 by the Court of Appeal in El Aaiun.
Two Spanish lawyers   attended the trial proceedings that were delayed twice.

The United Nations and the human rights organizations celebrated The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26th every year, the day that the General Assembly has agreed upon to speak out against torture worldwide.

The torture practiced against the indigenous citizens in the Western Sahara by the Moroccan authorities is still continuing because of the increase in the peaceful demonstrations calling for the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination, which has left its profound effect on individuals, families and the people of the Western Sahara as a whole.

These demonstrations have led the Moroccan police to torture some Saharawis to death. Such is the case of Hamdi Lembarki or the deliberate murder of others. The case of Abbachaikh Lakhlifi, is an obvious example.

The Moroccan authorities were behind the torture, the inhuman treatment of the Sahrawi citizens such as abduction, arrest, rape, false trials as well as the savage violence used against the political prisoners, women and children at schools, universities, public streets, in the police centers and vans. Some of them were thrown in remote areas outside their cities, others were either fire burnt (Salek Essaidi, for example) or become handicapped (Sultana Khaya, Hammadi Ezzaibour, the child Lmaissi Abdennasser…)

On June 26th, 2007, the Moroccan court of appeal in El Aaiun, Western Sahara condemned some Sahrawi political prisoners to hard, unjust sentences ranging from 10 months imprisonment to Yahdih Ettarrouzi and 05 years’ imprisonment to both Amidane Elwali and Bachri Ben Taleb.

The trial of these Sahrawi political prisoners coincided with the International Day to Support Torture Victims, and was an opportunity for the political prisoners to call the United Nations to investigate into the flagrant violations of human rights perpetrated by the Moroccan state against the Sahrawi citizens, and to enlarge the MINURSO responsibilities to include the protection of human rights in the territory.

The court was under complete police control, which is a “normal” practice at the trials in Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Sahrawi citizens and the political prisoners’ families were not allowed to attend the false, unjust trial. This led the defence lawyers to call for the fair trial conditions and to lift the police blockade imposed upon the courts. The court of El Aaiun body has twice positively responded to their call, while the court of Marrakech has rejected it earlier, which led the lawyers to withdraw from the court. The Sahrawi students in Marrakech were unjustly sentenced to harsh unfair verdicts lacking the fair trial conditions, the most important of which is the overtness of the hearings.

In early July and some few days before, the Moroccan authorities intensified its arrest campaign especially against minor children due to their participation in the peaceful demonstrations calling for the Sahrawi people's self-determination and independence.

These children have been arrested at different places in El Aaiun, without their parents' awareness. When the parents ask about their children, the Moroccan judicial police deny that they have any detainees. Then the parents resort to hospitals and the surroundings of the city, as it has become a custom that the detainees are thrown out at the outskirts.

The parents frequently hand out a complaint to the king prosecutor, describing their children's illegal detention, their police interrogation and their inhuman torture. Many of these minors have suffered psychological breakdown and life-lasting disabilities on the head, the ears and other sensitive parts of the body.
While these families are waiting for the court investigation of the torture committed by the police, the latter is continuing to arrest more children everyday.

These arrests have influenced their education : the police in civil clothes are inside the schools and outside controlling the educational institutes, which led most of the students to leave school forever, or at   least change the school where they study to another one that is probably in another city.

The children talk about the torture they face even inside the police vans and the continuous interrogation in order to obtain confessions from them. The child Lmaissi Abdennasser, who partly lost the sense of hearing, was tortured with his mother by the officials of the judicial police.

The children were tortured, beaten, verbally abused and ill-treated. Some of them were sprayed with dirty water and even human urine. Before being released, their families   have to sign a commitment that their children will never participate in the peaceful protest demonstrations.

The CODESA has received a list of the minors who were detained, tortured   between 05 and 06 July 2007, taking into account that many families are still afraid to inform the HR organizations about their children's ill-treatment:

1. Brahim Hallab
2.Laaroussi Hilal
3.Salama Hallab
4.Nafea Baidi
5.Ennajem Faidal Elgarhi
6.Mohamed Sabrat
7.Kraitta Zain Elaabidine
8.Ahrim Tayeb
9.Mansour Elaamiri
10.Mohamed Chlouki
11.Essalek Hallab
12.Essalek Mnaissir

On July 2nd, 2007, the court of appeal in Marrakech has postponed the trial of 08 students to July 16, 2007.

On July 03, 2007, the court of appeal in Rabat also delayed the trial of the Rabat university students to July 10th, 2007.
The Sahrawi students in Agadir were released after 2 months imprisonment.

On July 4, 2007, three Sahrawi political prisoners were presented to the court of first instance in El Aaiun, W.S. They had been arrested in Smara, Western Sahara during the peaceful demonstrations calling for the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination organized by Sahrawi citizens in the city.

The Moroccan judicial police in Smara, W.S. has charged the Sahrawi political prisoners of false criminal accusations. These prisoners are:

- Khallihana Dlimi; 50 years old.
- Barkou Hamid; 28 years old.
- Barkou Maouloud; 26 years old.

The lawyers of defence have been surprised because of the speedy trial of these prisoners, as this kind of cases normally takes a long period of time due to the complexity of the regulations.   This case has lasted only 10 days.

On Tuesday, July 10th, 2007, the court of appeal in Rabat, the capital of Morocco has sentenced 09 Sahrawi political prisoners to verdicts ranging from 04 to 08 months imprisonment.
The court of first instance in Rabat had already sentenced the same detainees for 08 months imprisonment for all these detainees a couple of weeks ago.
The trial today was attended by two foreign observers representing the High Council for the Spanish Lawyers, and was characterized by the defence of the Sahrawi lawyers and others from the Moroccan Association for Human Rights.

At the end of the trial,

1. The Sahrawi university students:
     -Mohamed Ali Ndour
     -Moulay Ahmad Aillal
     - Elhoucine Eddalea
     -Ezzaz Elouali
     -Najem Sghair
were sentenced to 04 months imprisonment.

2. The Sahrawi high school students:
-    Mohamed Elaalaoui
-    Mohamed Elgharrabi
    were sentenced to 04 months imprisonment.

3. The Sahrawi political prisoner, Lekhlifa Ejjenhaoui, was sentenced to 08 months imprisonment.

It is worth-mentioning here that these political prisoners were arrested for their organization of a peaceful open protest sit-in in Rabat in solidarity with their comrades in Agadir, Marrakesh and Casablanca. While the students were protesting, they chanted pro-independence slogans and held self-determination banners.

Conclusions

As a result of the peaceful demonstrations calling for the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination and denouncing the flagrant violations of human rights perpetrated by the Moroccan state in the Western Sahara, the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (UNHCHR) paid a visit to El Aaiun, Western Sahara on May 17-18-19 , 2006. The aim of the visit was to look into the human rights situation, as it had been urged by many human rights associations, Sahrawi human rights defenders and many international human rights organizations..
The UNHCHR published a report, ended with a number of recommendations which assert that these violations are basically associated with the call for self-determination. The report also confirms the Moroccan state's responsibility for the violations committed in the part of the territory under the Moroccan colonialism.

Yet, the Moroccan state has been intensifying its crimes against the Sahrawi people, which has been of a great concern to multiple human rights associations and NGOs.

We, as human rights defenders in the CODESA, the Collective of the Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders, have tried to pinpoint the violations committed against the Sahrawi citizens and human rights activists in the Western Sahara or in different parts of Morocco. Here are the main conclusions:

01. The continuous existence of the military and security siege :

Increasing the police agents' existence in the territory:

The intensifying of the peaceful protest demonstrations calling for the Sahrawi people's self-determination has led the Moroccan state to double different security agents:

a. The police: Although, Morocco says that it has cancelled the Urban Security Group, famous as the GUS, the latter is still exercising the same atrocities in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara using their vans for torturing the Sahrawis. The GUS has been responsible for the arrest and torture of the Sahrawi citizens as well as the death of the Sahrawi martyr, Hamdi Lembarki, during the Intifada.
b. The GUS agents are still heavily present in the Western Sahara cities and in the South of Morocco, in small groups (06 to 08 agents) wearing civil clothes and holding truncheons moving in dark blue vans and cars 24/24 a day. These easily seen groups aim at frightening the Sahrawi citizens and repress those who dare to demonstrate.
c. The districts where a lot of Sahrawis live such as Maatallah, Al Inaach, Ezzemla, Alfatteh, Alaawda, El Porko, Almattar, Diraidak districts, are also heavily packed with the GUS agents and secret spies.
d. As far as the other security groups (Les Forces Auxiliaires, Gendarmerie, L'armée Royale) are concerned, they are given specific tense places inside and outside the cities in order to control the Sahrawi citizens and arrest the protestors. As an example, they can be easily noticed in public parks, in streets, near stadiums, in front of hospitals and local prisons, etc.)
e. The DST, the secret police, are responsible for the interrogation and torture of the Sahrawi citizens inside the judicial police centers and in secret detention centers that the citizens cannot recognize.

02. The Schools are places of repression:

a. Oppression at schools:
The students have been demonstrating inside their High schools, Junior high schools and even primary educational institutions since late May 2005.
The police agents immediately oppress any attempt to demonstrate; even worse, the authorities have put a group of secret police agents in civil clothes inside the schools moving among the classes.

Results:

1. intensifying the fear and the repression against the Sahrawi students during the whole school year 2006-2007.
2. the instability and the feeling of constant danger inside the schools. Less concentration and very little learning.
3. Many students left their schools and thought of illegal immigration, some of them have in fact immigrated; others died before reaching the "Land of Paradise".
4. Many Sahrawi students were obliged to change their schools and sometimes even the city to another city in or out of the Western Sahara.
5. Many students have become psychologically upset, (some of them have psychological crisis because of the stress they live in at schools, especially minor children).
6. The parents' worry while their children are at schools for fear that they would be abducted or tortured by the police.
7. All this, of course, has led to very poor end-of-year results, (the Baccalaureate results in particular, example El Aaiun, Western Sahara.)

03. Examples of places where the Moroccan security forces exist:

1. Almorabitin school in El Aaiun, Westrern Sahara has been turned up to a military castle.
2. Foum Elouad beach, 25 kilometres away from El Aaiun, where the Gendarmerie agents are heavily present in order to frighten the Sahrawi holiday makers.
3. Smara street, Skikima street, Almaghrib Alaarabi street, Dadach street, etc. All of them are in El Aaiun, WS.
4. All the places where the Sahrawis may exist in large numbers.

04. The arrests:

During this short period of time, the Moroccan authorities launched a campaign of arrests against the Sahrawi citizens that included:

1. Children:
Children aged from 09 to 17 years old in both April and May 2007. More than 60 Sahrawi child were either arrested or tortured because of distributing the Sahrawi flags and leaflets or writing pro-Polisario slogans on public walls and at schools.

2. WOMEN:
Women are arrested for many reasons:

1. Because of their participation in the peaceful pro-independence demonstrations.
2. Their visits to the Sahrawi political prisoners or to the people coming from the refugee camps in the visits organized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
3. Their publishing of written or oral testimonies about their ill-treatment on newspapers or on websites.
4. Their protest against the violations committed by the Moroccan authorities against them or their families.
5. Their acceptance to let in the children chased by the police after the peaceful demonstrations.
6. Their acceptance to let Sahrawi militants take photos of the Moroccan police crackdown on the demonstrations from their houses ( as what happened during the visit of the UN high Commissioner of human rights to the Western Sahara on May 17-19, 2006.)

05. The treatment:

The way of torture is very violent. It takes the following forms:

1. The interrogation of women and children for long hours, sometimes more than 72 hours.
2.   Depriving them from eating, drinking or sleeping as a way of torture.
3.   their eyes blindfold and they are handcuffed.
4.   Obliging them to stand up during all the period of custody in the judicial police center.
5.   Urinating on their bodies.
6.   Beating them on sensitive parts of the body (sexual organs, head, ears, etc.) , which resulted in the loss of some senses for some of them (e.g. Lemmaissi Abdennasser)
7.   The torture takes both sorts, physical and psychological. Many children suffered a psychological breakdown because of the torture.
8.   Some children were arrested together with their mothers and were brutalized in front of them (e.g. the case of Lemmaissi Abdennasser and his mother Ghlana Barhah..)
9.   Some of the detainees were kept in transitory custody for illegal periods of time. (e.g. Boutabbaa Mohamed, 17 years old, who is now in the Black Prison in El Aaiun with Abdellah Elboussati, 17 years old who spent 5 days in custody before being sent to the Black Prison).
10. Forcing the Sahrawi minor girls and boys to take off their clothes and to clean the toilets and the judicial police centers.
11. Attacking the minors with different sorts of insults and verbal abuse as well as their threatening by rape.
12. Torture on the stomach that led to abortion (e.g. Ghlana Barhah.)

Remarks:

1. In many cases, the detainees are released late at night and their families are forced to sign a commitment that their child will never participate in the peaceful protest demonstrations that the Moroccan authorities call "disorder".
2. Many of the detainees were arrested because of their photos on the internet in websites, tortured and interrogated on this basis. Then, the police takes their photos in the judicial police center.
3. The arrest of some Sahrawi children was because of their symbolic dancing in the Sahrawi weddings or because of their raising up their hands making the victory sign. Some children were arrested because of their brandishing of the Polisario flag in the wedding.
4. The brutalization of the families while arresting their children, bursting into their houses and breaking down furniture. The detainees' fate is usually unknown as the Moroccan authorities refuses to give any information on their location, and even denying that they have them in custody.

06. The Situation in the Black Prison in El Aaiun, Western Sahara.

The Black Prison in El Aaiun, Western Sahara lacks the least living conditions for prisoners. This is mainly due to:

1.    The over-crowdedness of the Black Prison. It contains more than it can receive.
2.    Lack of water for general use…
3.    Lack or scarcity of medical treatment.
4.    Strict control to the prisoners makes them more stressful.
5.    Brutalizing them by the prison employees, especially the political prisoners, which are put with the common law detainees in the same cells.
6.    The political prisoners' denial of the family visits, especially the relatives such as uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.
7.    Forced transfer them to prisons far away from their families, the prison of Ait Melloul, near Agadir, Inezegane and Tiznit, Morocco..
8.    The opening of new law-cases against them while they are in prison in order to frighten them. This is mainly because of their opinions on the Western Sahara issue.
9.    The refusal to cater for their demands and to investigate in the complaints of the torture exercised against them by the Moroccan police and the prison employees.
10. Their brutalization inside the police vans and in the courtroom while going to and coming from the court.
11. The general prosecutor and the authorities in charge have not visited the Black Prison as they promised in order to witness the miserable conditions of the prisoners.

07. The human Rights Activists' Situation:

The human rights defenders face a lot of harassment and Moroccan ill-treatment.

A. The exclusion and sacking of work:

1. Exclusion of work:

a. Larbi Massoud, (born in 1966 and graduated from university in 1994) was excluded from getting a job for four times. As he was nominated to get a job, the Moroccan authorities interfere in order to stop the process because of his opinions concerning the Western Sahara issue. He was arrested twice, from December 06, 1999 to November 07, 2001 and from July 20, 2005 to March 25, 2006.

b. Brahim Noumri ( born in 1965, married, got a diploma in Spanish language). He was abducted for five times. The longest of which was his disappearance from 1987 to 1991 in Qalaat Magouna, a Moroccan secret abduction center, in the east of Morocco. He was arrested from July 20, 2005 to March 25, 20o6. He is still not allowed to get a job.

c. Ahmed Elmoutaoikil. He is an engineer diploma holder in 2004. For four times, he was denied different jobs although he succeeded in the exams and interviews to get the post. Now he managed to work in the private sector.

2. Sacking of work and salary deprivation:

a. Aminatou Haidar ( born in 1966, mother of two children, a boy and a girl, an ex-disappeared from 1987 to 1991 and ex-political prisoner from June 17, 2005 to January 17, 2006. She was deprived of her monthly salary since April 2005. Up to now she cannot get her salary back.

c. Hmad Hammad ( born in 1960, married). He is an ex-disappeared in 1997 and ex-political prisoner from August 09, 2005 to March 25, 2006. He was deprived of his salary because of his opinions on the Western Sahara issue. Up to now, he cannot get his salary back.

d. Gaoudi Fdaili, born in 1958, married and father of three children. He was a bank manager in El Aaiun. He was sacked of work because of his political views on the Western Sahara in 2000. Up to now, he cannot get his job back.

e. Ali Salem Tamek: born in 1973. He is an ex-political prisoner. He was arrested five times, and was sacked out of work in 2002. Up to now, he cannot get his job back.

B. Forced job Transfer:

The following activists were transferred from their native cities to remote places in Morocco, many miles away from their families.

- Mohamed Elmoutaoikil, married, father of three children, ex-political prisoner. He was forcibly transferred from Assa, south of Morocco to Casablanca, Morocco. He is still in Casablanca.
- Elhamed Mahmoud, married, father of three children, an employee at the Office Cherifien de Phosphate. Transferred from El Aaiun, Western Sahara to Casablanca, Morocco. He is still in Casablanca.
- Ejjaaim Mohamed, married, father of three children. Transferred from El Aaiun to Ben Grir, Morocco. He is stil in Ben Grir.
- Mohamed Abdedaim, married, father of four children.Transferred from Assa, south of Morocco to the Ba Mhamed village, near Touanate, Morocco. He is still in the same village.
- Baj Elhoucine, married. He was transferred from Assa, south of Morocco to Tata, Morocco. He is denied to get his salary. He is still in Tata.

C. The deprivation of getting passports:

The following activists and ex-political prisoners are still denied to get their passports for no legal reasons:

1. Labrass Brahim, El Aaiun, Western Sahara.
2. Bouaamoud Mohamed Salem, El Aaiun, Western Sahara
3. Lakhal Mohamed Salem, El Aaiun, Western Sahara
4. Cheikhi Nguia, Smara, Western Sahara.

D. Other kinds of harassment against the human rights defenders

1. The daily surveillance of their houses and their cell phones.
2. Their harassment in the police check-points while moving from a city to another.
3. Trying to distort their reputation by the Moroccan authorities.
4. Putting their names at the borders check-points (=airports) so that they are banned from traveling abroad while they try to do so.

08. The names of the torturers in the Western Sahara:

Through the contact of the CODESA with a lot of the victims of the violations of human rights committed by the Moroccan state in the Western Sahara, and through the complaints presented by these victims to the general prosecutor, these names are at the top of the list:

1. Ichi Aboulhassan: a high police officer in El Aaiun, W.S.
2. Hamid Bahri: The vice-Wali of Security in El Aaiun,WS
3. Mustapha Kammor: A police officer in El Aaiun.W.S.
4. Brahim Ben Sami:The Wali of security in Settat, Morocco. He was the Wali of security in El Aaiun, Western Sahara during the Intifada that started on May 21, 2005.
5. Abdelhaq Rabii: a police inspector in El Aaiun. WS.
6. Omar Qaissi: The ex-president of the judicial police center in El AaiunWS.
7. Annouchi Hassan: A judicial police inspector in El Aaiun, W.S.
8. Eddairaa Mouloud: A judicial police inspector in El Aaiun, W.S.
9. Ben Zouina Abderrahim: A judicial police inspector in El Aaiun, W.S.
10. Elmaati Moudrik: A security inspector in El Aaiun, W.S.
11. Lebhairi Abdellah: The police Quick intervention official in El Aaiun, W.S.
12. Hariz Elarbi: The Wali of Security in Dakhla
13. Elhabib Tayabi: The president of the Judicial Police center in El Aaiun.
14. Abdelqader Elaazzouzi: the president of the general affairs in Smara, Western, Sahara since 1992.
15. Hathat Abdelbasset: The president of the Regional Security in Smara, Western Sahara since 2006.
16. Mustapha Kamal Fakhri: A police officer of the CMI in Smara, WS.
17. Jdiri Abdeljabbar: A "Qaid" in the province of Smara, Western Sahara.
18. Ishaq Mohamed, a police officer in Smara, W.S.
19. Oujja Hassan: a police officer in Smara, W.S.
20. Badran Mustapha: a secret police officer in Smara, WS.
21. Ben Daoued Soulaiman: the president of the judicial police in Smara, WS.
22. Abderrahman Elkaoui: A security police officer in Boujdour, Western Sahara.
23. Fouad: A police officer of the DST in Boujdour, WS.
24. Mohamed Jelitt: A police officer in the judicial police center in Boujdour, WS.
25. Driss Echouadri: the president of the general affairs department in the province of Boujdour, WS.
26. Mustapha Ghanimi: an employee in the general affairs department in the province of Boujdour, WS.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1.    The publication of the UNHCHR report (2006) and the implementation of its recommendations.
2.    Lifting the military and media siege imposed on the Western Sahara and letting the foreign delegations in.
3.    The expansion of the responsibility of the MINURSO to include the protection of the Sahrawi citizens' rights in the Western Sahara.
4.    The Moroccan state has to sign the international charters of human rights (the International Agreement against Torture…).
5.    Stopping the excessive exploitation of the Sahrawi natural resources.
6.    Looking into the flagrant violations of human rights perpetrated by the Moroccan state against the Sahrawi citizens, and the punishment of the torturers responsible for these violations.
7.    Accounting for the fate of the Sahrawi disappeared and the release of all the Sahrawi prisoners.
8.    The allowance of the Sahrawi citizens' right to assembly and organization through letting the Sahrawis' human rights associations.
9.    The clearing of the Western Sahara from different kinds of landmines, and the acceptance of the international Human Rights and medical NGOs to enter the territory in order to help in curing the landmines' victims.
10.    The closing of the Local Prison (= the Black Jail) in El Aaiun, Western Sahara, as it lacks the simplest conditions for the protection of prisoners.

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Collectif des Défenseurs Sahraouis des droits de l'homme El Aaiun / Sahara Occidental collectif.shrd@gmail.com