Free Mustapha Abd Daiem: Save the life of the family of a Saharawi prisoner of conscience in hunger strike

Open Letter: Campaign: “Free Mustapha Abd Daiem” Saharawi Journalist, writer and human rights activist Save the life of the family of a Saharawi prisoner of conscience in hunger strike Dear Sir or Madame I am writing you, on behalf of The Saharawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union (UPES), to inform you about a critical human situation that needs your immediate and urgent care. The Saharawi prisoner of conscience, human rights activist, short-stories writer and journalist, Mustapha Abd Daiem, who is serving a three years imprisonment sentence in the Moroccan prison of Inzegan is undertaking an unlimited hunger strike in his cell since last Saturday 13 December 2008 to protest against the unfair judgement he was victim to. The Moroccan colonial court sentenced him 3 years imprisonment, 50.000 Moroccan dr fine and 10 years ban from public employment. The members of his family, (his father, Mohamed Abd Daiem (81 Years old/ he fainted twice on the 21 and 22 December and refused to take medication), his mother Raquia Chkili (70 years old), his two sisters Khadija and Mariam, his wife, Raquia Amay, and his two nephews Saaid and Yuness, are also hunger striking since the same day (13 Dec), sitting in front of the house of their son in Assa (a city in the southern zone of Morocco). So far, many members of the family fainted, lost consciousness and all of them started feeling side effects of the hunger strike, especially the mother, who needs Insulin, but also his sister Khadija who was transferred on Saturday 20 Dec because she started vomiting blood, and the doctor ordered her transfer to the hospital of Gulmim (100 Km west of Assa) because her state is serious, he said. Mustapha’s wife, Raquia Amay, and his nephew Youness also lost consciousness last week, but they refuse to take any medication unless the prisoner of conscience is given justice by the Moroccan court. In their last press release, of which UPES received a copy (read the translated copy below), the hunger-striking members of the family reiterated their determination to keep up with the hunger strike until their son is given justice. The story of Mustapha Abd Daiem 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 last trial in the Moroccan court of appeal in Agadir simply because they were even not informed about the date of the trial. The Saharawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union (UPES) also expresses deep concerns about the state of health of the hunger-striking members of the family of Abd Daiem, especially that the father and the mother are very old for such a strike (81 and 70 years old), and that at least three other members (the prisoner’s sister, wife and nephew) are in immediate danger. The Saharawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union (UPES) would like to inform you that it tried to contact Reporters Without Borders, and other human rights organisations to inform them about the situation, in vain. And would like to seize this opportunity to inform you that it will soon launch a campaign of support and solidarity with the Saharawi journalist, short-stories writer and human rights activist, Mustapha Abd Daiem, and will need your support, assistance and advices. The Saharawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union (UPES) would like to highly praise Amnesty International support, having issued a press release on the subject on Tuesday 23 December (read the press release bellow). And would like to call on the international organisation to remain seized of the subject until it’s settlement. Today, 24 December, the Saharawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union (UPES) launched an urgent appeal towards the members of the family to stop their hunger strike, so as to give us an opportunity to campaign in favour of the prisoner of conscience without risking to lose anyone of them because of the strike. For this, please check the UPES website (www.upes.org) in the coming days for further information, and for any correspondence send your emails to the Secretary General of UPES, Mr. Malainin Lakhal on his email below. Finally, please accept Sir or Madame, my best regards. Mr. Malainin Lakhal General Secretary UPES Saharawi Refugee camps Email: mellakhal@gmail.com URL Arabic: www.upes.org URL English: www.upes.org/default_eng.asp URL Spanish: www.upes.org/default_es.asp Cell phone: +213.776.88.91.67 ------------------------------------- Appendices: Annex 1: Press release The hunger-striking members of the family Abd Daiem 20 December 2008 For the eight successive day of our open hunger-strike, and despite the deterioration of our health and also the deterioration of the health of the Saharawi prisoner of conscience, writer and journalist, Mustapha Abd Daiem, imprisoned in the local prison of Inzegan, we, the family of the Saharawi prisoner of conscience Abd Daiem declare: 1- Our attachment to the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination and our reaffirmation of POLISARIO Front as its legitimate and only representative. 2- Our determination to continue the open hunger-strike until justice is done. 3- Our call to all Saharawi human rights organisations to assume their responsibilities in front of God, in front of history and in front of the Saharawi people. 4- Our call to the UN and to international organisations and bodies to put more pressures on Morocco to force it release all Saharawi prisoners of conscience. All the country free or martyrdom --------------------------------------- Annex 2: http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGMDE290162008〈=e http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE29/016/2008/en/cb61a215-d113-11dd-984e-fdc7ffcd27a6/mde290162008en.html AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT Index: MDE 29/016/2008 Date: 23 December 2008 Morocco/Western Sahara: Irregularities in Sahrawi activist’s trial Amnesty International is concerned about the recent sentencing of Sahrawi activist Mustafa Abdel Dayem, currently on hunger strike, to three years in prison on the basis of what he claims was a falsified record of statements he made in custody. The organization is also concerned that other aspects of Mustafa Abdel Dayem’s trial proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards as he was denied the right to legal counsel during his appeal hearing. His case was submitted several days ago to Morocco’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, which can review the alleged irregularities in his trial and, if confirmed, dismiss the ruling and send the case for retrial by a lower court. Amnesty International fears that Mustafa Abdel Dayem’s conviction may have been intended to punish him for his public support for the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara and for the Polisario Front, which calls for an independent state in Western Sahara and runs a self-proclaimed government-in-exile in refugee camps in south-western Algeria. Mustafa Abdel Dayem, member of both the Assa-Zag Branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights and the Sahrawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union, was arrested without a warrant on the evening of 27 October 2008 at his home in Assa in southern Morocco and taken to the Royal Gendarmerie Station in the same city. His arrest followed anti-government protests in Assa earlier that day by Sahrawi members of the population calling for the creation of employment opportunities and the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. While Mustafa Abdel Dayem claims not to have participated in the protests, he admits to having lowered the Moroccan flag from the ‘Alal Al-Fassi secondary school, where he worked as a security guard. He explains that his action was intended to show his support and solidarity with the demonstrators and his opposition to the intervention of law enforcement officers to break up the protests. On 4 November 2008, the Court of First Instance of Guelmim sentenced Mustafa Abdel Dayem to a three-year prison term and a fine of 50,000 dirhams (approximately US$6,220) for offending the flag of the Kingdom of Morocco, rebelling and inciting an armed gathering, participating in the destruction of public property and participating in the contempt of public officials on duty. The sentence also included a prohibition on Mustafa Abdel Dayem from practicing teaching or working in any educational institution for a period of 10 years. Mustafa Abdel Dayem insists that the record of his questioning by the Royal Gendarmerie (procès-verbal), on which his conviction was largely based, was falsified – attributing to him acts which he neither committed nor confessed to committing during his interrogation at the Royal Gendarmerie station in Assa. He argued that he had signed a procès-verbal following his questioning, whereas the one presented to the court was unsigned. During the hearing, his defence team walked out in protest at the court’s refusal to call on the Royal Gendarmerie to produce as evidence the procès-verbal signed by Mustafa Abdel Dayem. During his appeal trial, Mustafa Abdel Dayem was denied his right to be defended by legal counsel. According to members of his defence team, none of his lawyers was summoned to the appeal hearings which took place at the Court of Appeals of Agadir. Furthermore, Mustafa Abdel Dayem claims that his request to postpone the second hearing on 11 December until his lawyers were present or until he had had the opportunity to constitute a different defence team was rejected by the court, which confirmed the lower court’s conviction later that day. On 19 December his lawyers submitted an appeal against the ruling to the Court of Cassation, which is mandated to review cases only on questions of procedure, but no date has yet been set for its consideration of the case. Mustafa Abdel Dayem, currently incarcerated at Inzegane Prison in Agadir, has reportedly been on hunger strike since 13 December 2008 to protest the Court of First Instance’s refusal to request as evidence his signed procès-verbal to the Royal Gendarmerie and the Court of Appeal’s insistence on pronouncing its decision despite the absence of his defence team. Seven of his family members in Assa, including his parents, who are elderly, started a hunger strike on the same day in solidarity with him, threatening to continue it until he is retried in a trial meeting international standards. Background Since 2005, dozens of Sahrawis have been charged with violent conduct and detained after being arrested during or after demonstrations against Moroccan rule in Western Sahara. Many of those arrested allege that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated to force them to sign confessions, to intimidate them from protesting further or to punish them for demanding the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. The Moroccan authorities continue to claim that those imprisoned were involved in criminal acts and are not being held for their views. Amnesty International has serious concerns about the fairness of their trials, including that some of the evidence was tainted on account of unexamined claims of torture or other ill-treatment and that defendants were not permitted to call defence witnesses In October 2008, Yahya Mohamed ElHafed, member of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders, was found guilty of violent conduct and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in connection with his participation in a protest in Tan Tan against Moroccan rule. Eight other defendants received sentences of up to four years in prison. Allegations that they were tortured during questioning were not investigated.

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Ministre de la défense sahraoui : Le Maroc entrave les négociations de paix

Tripoli (Libye), Le ministre de la Défense sahraouie, Mohamed Lemine ould Bouhali, a rejeté sur le Maroc la responsabilité de l'achoppement des pourparlers sur le Sahara Occidental, dans un entretien accordé à l’agence de presse africaine (PANA), publié mardi.

"Sans la présence d'un émissaire spécial du secrétaire général de l'ONU, les pourparlers entre les deux parties ne pourraient se poursuivre", a-t-il souligné, mardi à Tripoli dans cet entretien en marge de la clôture de la deuxième réunion des ministres de la Défense des pays de l'Afrique du Nord à laquelle il participe.

Il a affirmé que la problématique réside dans l'attitude du Maroc qui n'a ni approuvé ni réprouvé le nouvel émissaire onusien.

Evoquant le processus de paix, il a rappelé l'existence de résolutions de l'ONU et d'un plan de paix approuvé par le Conseil de sécurité de cette organisation.

Selon lui, si les parties concernées font preuve de bonne volonté et que l'ONU assume ses responsabilités à l'égard du plan de paix convenu, les négociations iront dans le bon sens et conduiront vers un référendum libre et équitable pour le peuple sahraoui qui lui permettra de donner son avis sur son autodétermination.

Parlant de la force de réserve dont la mise en oeuvre dans la région de l'Afrique du Nord a été adoptée, il a indiqué que la RASD contribue avec deux unités, une de génie civil et l'autre de patrouille et contribue à toutes les autres structures du commandement de cette force avec notamment 40 officiers dans le cadre de la surveillance.

Le "statut avancé" en négociation entre l'UE et le Maroc ne doit pas inclure le Sahara occidental

Alger, Le "statut avancé" que l'Union européenne (UE) envisage d'accorder au Maroc "ne doit pas inclure le Sahara occidental", a recommandé mardi la Ligue française des droits de l'homme (LDH) sur son site Internet.

L'UE et le Maroc sont en train de mener des discussions pour "approfondir leurs relations par le bais de cet accord, et jusqu'à présent, dans les rapports sur les négociations euro marocaines, il n'est nullement fait mention de l'exclusion du Sahara occidental de cet accord", constate la LDH.

Elle a ajouté que si l'UE décidait d'accorder ce statut avancé par le biais des négociations menées avec le Maroc, "puissance occupante", elle donnerait un "signal de soutien à la revendication territoriale marocaine infondée".

"Une telle décision pourrait mettre en danger les effort des Nations unies pour décoloniser le territoire", a averti l'organisation, tout en soulignant que le Maroc "a toujours été et est encore une puissance occupante au Sahara occidental, en violation de plus d'une centaine de résolutions de l'Onu qui exigent le droit à l'autodétermination pour le peuple sahraoui".

Rappelant les différentes résolutions mettant en évidence que le Sahara occidental est un territoire occupé et annexé et traitant la question sahraouie comme un problème de décolonisation, la LDH a indiqué qu'au regard du droit international en vigueur, l'UE et ses Etats membres "ont le devoir de ne pas reconnaître l'annexion du Sahara occidental par le Maroc, et de soutenir la décolonisation du territoire".

"Cela relève également d'un devoir moral, tant que le peuple sahraoui souffre de l'exil et subit les violations des droits humains par les forces d'occupation dans les territoires occupés du Sahara occidental", note la LDH.

"L'UE doit montrer clairement que le Sahara occidental est exclu sans ambiguïté de la zone d'application territoriale de l'accord de statut avancé, sans en confier la responsabilité au Maroc", insiste encore la Ligue des droits de l'homme.

La LDH a appelé l'UE à suivre l'exemple des Etats-Unis qui ont spécifiquement exclu le Sahara occidental de leur accord de libre échange avec le Maroc, et à soutenir le processus de paix mené par l'Onu.

Espagne: le Parlement régional de Cantabrie adopte une résolution de soutien au peuple sahraoui

Madrid, Le Parlement régional de Cantabrie (nord de l'Espagne) a adopté lundi une résolution de soutien au peuple sahraoui dans laquelle il a appelé au respect des droits de l'homme dans les territoires sahraouis occupés par le Maroc, et à la mise en œuvre des résolutions de l'ONU en faveur de l'autodétermination au Sahara occidental, a-t-on appris mardi auprès de cette institution.

Dans leur résolution, les parlementaires ont lancé un appel pressant en faveur du respect des droits de l'homme dans les territoires sahraouis occupés, et réitéré leur engagement avec le peuple sahraoui, à travers le Parlement de Cantabrie.

Ils ont également rappelé la "nécessaire mise en application des résolutions des Nations Unies", en faveur du droit à l'autodétermination du peuple sahraoui, et de "mettre fin, définitivement, au conflit du Sahara occidental dont est victime la population sahraouie depuis l'occupation (par le Maroc) de l'ancienne colonie espagnole, il y 33 ans".

Concernant la situation humanitaire des réfugiés sahraouis, les parlementaires ont demandé aux agences humanitaires des Nations Unies de "s'éloigner des pressions auxquelles elles peuvent être soumises, et de s'acquitter de leurs obligations telles que définies dans les engagements pris en matière d'aide humanitaire, de santé, d'éducation, de culture et de formation, en tenant compte des considérations particulières et spécifiques liées à la durée de l'exil".

Dans ce cadre, ils encouragent le gouvernement régional de Cantabrie à accroître de "manière décidée" sa coopération avec le peuple sahraoui, dont les réfugiés vivent actuellement une "grave situation" au plan humanitaire.

Le texte a été adopté à la faveur de la célébration du 60 ème anniversaire de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme et sur la base des décisions prises lors de la 34ème Conférence européenne de solidarité avec le peuple sahraoui (Eucoco), tenue le mois dernier à Valence (Est de l'Espagne).

Swedish Greens demands Western Sahara out of Moroccan-EU cooperation

The Swedish Greens demanded the exclusion of Western Sahara from the EU-Morocco cooperation, said Ellinor Scheffert, international spokesperson of the Green Party, in a press release last Friday. The Swedish Green Party signed an international petition launched last November by Western Sahara Resource Watch, WSRW, which demands that Western Sahara should be explicitly excluded if the EU and Morocco agrees on deepened cooperation. Ellinor Scheffert indicated in her statement that "it is evident for the Green Party to support this petition”, because “a close cooperation between the EU and Morocco, where the Saharawi territory is included, would help to give further legitimacy to the occupation”. “Unfortunately, she added, today the world gives its silent consent to the occupation of Western Sahara and to the torture and discrimination of the Saharawis. Morocco’s actions violate international law and human rights, they defy the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the African Union”, the international spokesperson of the Green Party said in a press release today. For further information: Ellinor Scheffert, (+46) (0)702-93 55 74 Mattias Bengtsson, press secretary, (+46) (0)736-27 53 83

Phosphate imports questioned at Incitec Pivot’s AGM

The Australian fertiliser company Incitec Pivot keeps maintaining its unethical practice of supporting the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. The imports were questioned during the company’s Annual General Meeting on December 19th 2008. Both the legal and the ethical basis of the importations of phosphate from occupied Western Sahara were questioned at IPL’s 2008 Annual General Meeting on Friday. The company secretary replied that IPL is cognizant of the government’s advice to seek legal advice and is satisfied with their legal advice and that they are not trading illegally. “We are still hoping to persuade Incitec Pivot, along with other Australian importers of Saharawi phosphate, to become part of the solution to the problem in Western Sahara instead of consolidating Morocco’s illegal and brutal regime where Saharawis face daily human rights abuses,” said Cate Lewis of the Australian Western Sahara Association, and international secretary of WSRW. "We think the imports from occupied Western Sahara should be of concern to shareholders of IPL. Applying international ethical standards through the UN Principles of Responsible Investment has led fund-holders and investors increasingly to divest from holdings in companies trading in Saharawi phosphate”, Lewis pointed out. Simultaneously, it has been discovered that a new vessel is on its way to IPL.

Morocco/Western Sahara: Irregularities in Sahrawi activist’s trial

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT Index: MDE 29/016/2008 Date: 23 December 2008 Morocco/Western Sahara: Irregularities in Sahrawi activist’s trial Amnesty International is concerned about the recent sentencing of Sahrawi activist Mustafa Abdel Dayem, currently on hunger strike, to three years in prison on the basis of what he claims was a falsified record of statements he made in custody. The organization is also concerned that other aspects of Mustafa Abdel Dayem’s trial proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards as he was denied the right to legal counsel during his appeal hearing. His case was submitted several days ago to Morocco’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, which can review the alleged irregularities in his trial and, if confirmed, dismiss the ruling and send the case for retrial by a lower court. Amnesty International fears that Mustafa Abdel Dayem’s conviction may have been intended to punish him for his public support for the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara and for the Polisario Front, which calls for an independent state in Western Sahara and runs a self-proclaimed government-in-exile in refugee camps in south-western Algeria. Mustafa Abdel Dayem, member of both the Assa-Zag Branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights and the Sahrawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union, was arrested without a warrant on the evening of 27 October 2008 at his home in Assa in southern Morocco and taken to the Royal Gendarmerie Station in the same city. His arrest followed anti-government protests in Assa earlier that day by Sahrawi members of the population calling for the creation of employment opportunities and the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. While Mustafa Abdel Dayem claims not to have participated in the protests, he admits to having lowered the Moroccan flag from the ‘Alal Al-Fassi secondary school, where he worked as a security guard. He explains that his action was intended to show his support and solidarity with the demonstrators and his opposition to the intervention of law enforcement officers to break up the protests. On 4 November 2008, the Court of First Instance of Guelmim sentenced Mustafa Abdel Dayem to a three-year prison term and a fine of 50,000 dirhams (approximately US$6,220) for offending the flag of the Kingdom of Morocco, rebelling and inciting an armed gathering, participating in the destruction of public property and participating in the contempt of public officials on duty. The sentence also included a prohibition on Mustafa Abdel Dayem from practicing teaching or working in any educational institution for a period of 10 years. Mustafa Abdel Dayem insists that the record of his questioning by the Royal Gendarmerie (procès-verbal), on which his conviction was largely based, was falsified – attributing to him acts which he neither committed nor confessed to committing during his interrogation at the Royal Gendarmerie station in Assa. He argued that he had signed a procès-verbal following his questioning, whereas the one presented to the court was unsigned. During the hearing, his defence team walked out in protest at the court’s refusal to call on the Royal Gendarmerie to produce as evidence the procès-verbal signed by Mustafa Abdel Dayem. During his appeal trial, Mustafa Abdel Dayem was denied his right to be defended by legal counsel. According to members of his defence team, none of his lawyers was summoned to the appeal hearings which took place at the Court of Appeals of Agadir. Furthermore, Mustafa Abdel Dayem claims that his request to postpone the second hearing on 11 December until his lawyers were present or until he had had the opportunity to constitute a different defence team was rejected by the court, which confirmed the lower court’s conviction later that day. On 19 December his lawyers submitted an appeal against the ruling to the Court of Cassation, which is mandated to review cases only on questions of procedure, but no date has yet been set for its consideration of the case. Mustafa Abdel Dayem, currently incarcerated at Inzegane Prison in Agadir, has reportedly been on hunger strike since 13 December 2008 to protest the Court of First Instance’s refusal to request as evidence his signed procès-verbal to the Royal Gendarmerie and the Court of Appeal’s insistence on pronouncing its decision despite the absence of his defence team. Seven of his family members in Assa, including his parents, who are elderly, started a hunger strike on the same day in solidarity with him, threatening to continue it until he is retried in a trial meeting international standards. Background Since 2005, dozens of Sahrawis have been charged with violent conduct and detained after being arrested during or after demonstrations against Moroccan rule in Western Sahara. Many of those arrested allege that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated to force them to sign confessions, to intimidate them from protesting further or to punish them for demanding the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. The Moroccan authorities continue to claim that those imprisoned were involved in criminal acts and are not being held for their views. Amnesty International has serious concerns about the fairness of their trials, including that some of the evidence was tainted on account of unexamined claims of torture or other ill-treatment and that defendants were not permitted to call defence witnesses In October 2008, Yahya Mohamed ElHafed, member of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders, was found guilty of violent conduct and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in connection with his participation in a protest in Tan Tan against Moroccan rule. Eight other defendants received sentences of up to four years in prison. Allegations that they were tortured during questioning were not investigated.

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Swedish Trade Council withdraws incorrect map

(WSRW)-- The Swedish Trade Council has withdrawn a map from its homepages, showing Western Sahara as part of Morocco. The step was taken after correction from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In April this year, Swedish Trade Council opened an office in Casablanca, Morocco. As preparation of the opening of the office, the Council had on 6th March made a folder with information on the business opportunities in Morocco. Download folder here. The only map in the folder, outlined the activities of ANAFAP, the umbrella organisation for fishmeal and fish oil producers in Morocco - and Western Sahara. But the map made no distinction of the two countries, and did not outline the internationally recognised border between Morocco and Western Sahara. See the map below. "I get upset by the Trade Council’s folder, in which one really urges Swedish businesses to participate in the plundering of an occupied country. The government must now act so that a governmental authority like the Trade Council do not work against the clear majority in the Swedish parliament that consider Western Sahara as occupied", said parliamentarian Mr. Hans Linde, to the Swedish magazine Västsahara. "Oops, we are going to change that map", said Helena Olsson, Director Corporate Communications at the Swedish Trade Council when she was made aware of the issue by Västsahara. She underlined that they cooperate closely with the Swedish embassy in Rabat, and follow the recommendations by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The [Swedish] Ministry of Foreign Affairs will immediately contact the Trade Council and make them aware of the position of the Swedish government on the status on Western Sahara, and that this map is not in line with this position", said Mrs. Ulla Eriksson-Moberg at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the same publication. Then, all information relating to fisheries was simply removed from the folder. That included pages 17, 18 and 19, including the information on "Fishmeal and fish oil producers in Morocco", as well as the only map of Morocco in the entire folder. The new version of the folder was edited by the local staff at the Trade Council’s Casablanca office on the 28th of November 2008. Download the new version here

The President of the Republic condemns Moroccan Forces kidnapping a 9 years old girl in Smara

The President of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, condemned the abduction by Moroccan security forces last Wednesday of a 9 years old Saharawi girl, Lalou Cheikh Bel Limam, from the home of her family, and her subjection to torture, intimidation and interrogation for more than 10 hours. In a letter he addressed to the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Abdelaziz renewed Saharawi "call for an urgent and immediate intervention to protect innocent lives, and stop the brutal repression and gross violations of human rights by the Moroccan State against the Saharawi people, which involve children, in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, Southern Morocco and in Moroccan universities." "The girl suffers from traces of torture by police agents: Abdessamed Bahli, Salem Bougteib, Zakria Beiti and Abderrahmane Mcheichou", the Saharawi president indicated. In the same letter, the President of the Republic informed Ban Ki-Moon that the sister of the Saharawi journalist, Mustapha Abd Dayem, was transferred in coma to the hospital of Goulimime, due to deteriorating health," while she was participating to a hunger strike with 7 of the member of her family to protest against the unfair trail the Moroccan authorities orchestrated against her brother. "Concerning the case of the journalist and prisoner of conscience, Moustapha Abd Dayem, who bears the burden of a poor family, composed of elderly and young children, he is undertaking a hunger strike for over a week," said Abdelaziz. He also drew attention to "the seriousness of the incident and the plight of the Saharawis under Moroccan occupation", citing the recent report of Human Rights Watch, which accused Morocco of serious violations of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, as it was already unveiled by the report of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights of 2006. "We reiterate in this letter our request to intervene vis-à-vis the Moroccan Government to immediately and unconditionally release all the Saharawi political prisoners and to lift the secrecy on the fate of more than 500 missing Saharawi civilians and 151 Saharawi prisoners of war, "concluded the letter.

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The Irish capital hosts a photographic exhibition on the sufferings of the Saharawi people under Moroccan occupation

An exhibition of photographs which lasts for several weeks, on the sufferings of the Saharawi people under Moroccan occupation, is held at the EU house in the Irish capital Dublin on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A large part of the exhibition is devoted to the sufferings of the Saharawi people under the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and practices against Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons including, among others, former Saharawi political detainee, Mrs. Jimmy Ghalia. Moroccan illegal plundering of the resources of Western Sahara was also present at the exhibition through photographs of Moroccan fishermen prowling fish from the Saharawi coasts. The exhibition, which witnessed a large attendance, reflects the daily sufferings of the Saharawi people, how they are repressed by Morocco, their sufferings of Morocco’s injustice and their appeal for the international community to help them protect their legitimate rights and the natural wealth of their country.

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Moroccan forces arrest Saharawi citizens in peaceful demonstrations in the city of El Aaiun

Moroccan authorities arbitrary arrested, Sunday December 21.2008, some Saharawi citizens following a peaceful demonstration that took place in the occupied capital of Western Sahara, El Aaiun, demanding Saharawi people’s right to self-determination. Dozens of citizens, including women and children have participated in two demonstrations in Lahohum neighbourhood before Moroccan repressive forces intervened and arrested three young saharawis: Rageb Baihi, Alhnafi Ghazoani and Mohamed Baihi. In the same context, Ibn Battuta School in Al-Amal Square in the same city lived a violent intervention of the Moroccan police forces after dozens of students gathered in a peaceful demonstration to demand the right to self-determination. The intervention resulted in the arrest of five students, mainly Bourkba Ahmed, Salem Touif, Ahmed Khalil, Essami Mohamed, and Faitah Mohamed before being released after they were beaten and intimidated. Meanwhile, the Saharawi political detainees in the Black prison (Carcel Negra) in El Aaiun started a 48 hours hunger strike to protest against their imprisonment in the same cell with criminals.

Official reactions to the HRW report

Having now skimmed the new HRW report, it seems to me to be a very thorough piece of work. It presents a nuanced picture of repression on all sides in Western Sahara, and gives the most complete picture I have seen so far of the present human rights situation. (It does not deal with past violations.)

For example, police repression in Moroccan-held Western Sahara is portrayed in all its unpleasantness, with several political trials examined in detail. But the report also notes significant improvements since the 1990s: "Despite the persistent enforcement of laws repressing advocacy of Sahrawi
independence, Morocco has gradually and unevenly opened the door to wider debate on this issue." And "[i]n contrast to twenty years ago, Sahrawi activists conduct [pro-independence] activities and return home most nights without being disturbed. However, sooner or later most of them encounter various forms of harassment that can include travel restrictions, arbitrary arrest, beatings, or trial and imprisonment on trumped-up charges. In recent years, courts have generally imposed on Sahrawi activists sentences of three years or less, sentences generally much shorter than those imposed during the earlier period." This nuanced but critical view, of course, shatters both the stalinesque propaganda of official Morocco, according to which All Is Well In The Southern Provinces, but also pokes a hole in POLISARIO's claims that nothing has changed -- or can change -- for the better under Moroccan rule.

HRW also notes that power remains centralized to a small core of decision-makers in POLISARIO's Tindouf camps, with the refugee community dependent on their political leadership for jobs and provision, rather than the other way around; a situation which naturally encourages corruption and abuse. However, the report also points out that the political climate has been much liberalized since the ceasefire in 1991, and that "[t]oday, political detentions are rare or nonexistent in the refugee camps." It provides the first serious investigation of the slavery allegations, noting that "vestiges of slavery" and traditional racist social stratification remains in the camps, primarily in such a way as to affect marriage customs; but also, that POLISARIO has tried to fight these phenomena, and that they are present throughout Sahrawi/Moorish society, including on the Moroccan side. It clarifies that refugees aren't "forcibly held" or "sequestered", as Morocco claims, and that they are quite able to leave the camps -- but also that people fear POLISARIO's reaction if they were to announce a willingness to resettle in Moroccan-held territory. These descriptions run totally counter to POLISARIO's fantastical claims of a blossoming little refugee democracy, but also undermine Rabat's equally absurd depiction of the Tindouf camps as a sort of desert GULAG archipelago for kidnapped Moroccans.

Finally, HRW points out the anomaly that there is no party formally responsible to the international community for human rights protection in Tindouf: Algeria has abdicated rule over the area to the Sahrawi Republic, which in turn is not internationally recognized, and the UN mission, MINURSO, has no human rights-monitoring component. The report argues that Algeria's responsibility should be defined and recognized (something Algeria wants to hear nothing of, preferring its ambiguous role on the sidelines), and also demands that MINURSO get the same right and duty as other UN missions to monitor human rights in all of its areas of responsibility, i.e. all of Western Sahara and the POLISARIO-administered territories in Algeria (something which Morocco is rigidly opposed to, and which its ally France blocks in the Security Council).

All in all, this report is the best I've read so far, by far, on Western Sahara's human rights issues. So how was it received by its intended recipients, the ruling circles in Rabat, Rabouni and Algiers? Quite predictably, by a barrage of shrill and one-sided propaganda:

In Morocco, some officials denounce the report, which is harshest on Morocco (for the simple reason that Morocco has on the whole been much more abusive to Sahrawis). For example, Istiqlali parliamentarian Hamid Shibat explained to al-Jazira that the report is a product of, you guessed it, Algerian intelligence.* And the palace mouthpiece Le Matin is shocked to its very core after reading this "perfidious" document: "One falls backwards, one must be dreaming, one thinks that one is hearing an Algerian delegate in front of an assembly". However, the paper then catches its breath again, to summarize the report in another article in quite different tones. Now it suddenly states that "Polisario and Algeria are responsible for human rights violations in the Tindouf camps."

This is also the line taken by the official news agency, MAP, which spews out a steady stream of articles on the report, like one headlined "HRW urges Algeria to assume responsibility for Polisario barbaric acts in Tindouf" or its sister piece, which claims that "HRW's assessment is almost a scathing denial of the vain allegations that the polisario and its mentor Algeria throw out whenever a handful of separatists strive to disrupt public order and whenever Moroccan authorities exercise their right to restore order and reprimand violent rioting demonstrators and thieves." Almost!

Algerian and Sahrawi media is no better. The Sahrawi news agency, SPS, somehow twists HRW criticisms of POLISARIO rule in Tindouf into "HRW welcomes the role of the Polisario Front for the protection of human rights" and the writers' union UPES obediently follows suit: "Human Rights Watch accused Morocco on Friday of beating and torturing independence campaigners in Western Sahara and said U.N. peacekeepers should start monitoring human rights in the territory." And APS, the Algerian state news agency, sums up the report as "Morocco is in the eye of the storm because of its repression in Western Sahara." Meanwhile, the Algerian state newspaper El Moudjahid sums up the situation in Tindouf as simply one of "freedom of movement, no political prisoners, and where criticism against the management of Front Polisario is permitted," and the other state newspaper, ech-Chaab, headlines with "Morocco violates rights of free expression in Western Sahara," and that's about it.

The expression "dialogue of the deaf" doesn't capture the scope of the problem here. It's more like a drooling, spitting, eye-rolling rant of the mentally retarded. All the peoples involved deserve so much better than these pitiful governments.

“Moroccans hang their problems on Algeria’s pegboard”

The official Moroccan campaign targeting Algeria is owed to Algeria’s backing up self determination plan in the Western Sahara disputed territory, said the Minister of State, Personal Representative of the President of Republic, Mr. Abdelaziz Belkhadem.
In a press conference he held following the FLN Council meeting, Mr. Belkhadem has approached again the critics made by Moroccan high officials to Algeria. He said Algeria does not intend worsening her relationships with Morocco. He further indicated that the campaign launched by “brothers in Morocco, does not serve the fraternal relationships between both countries. The political stability in Morocco and western Sahara and in the entire region is very important to Algeria,” he has been quoted as saying.
Moreover, Mr. Belkhadem added that reserves emitted by Algeria over the claim of the Moroccan authorities, which required the opening of borders has arisen the Moroccan authorities’ anger, through accusations saying that Algeria is hindering the construction of the Maghreb Union.
According to Mr. Belkhadem, the Moroccan authorities make Algeria responsible of the problems they are facing; pointing out that Morocco is intending to show Algeria as a responsible of internal social and economical problems they are facing.

HRW calls on the Security Council to expand the mandate of Minurso for monitoring human rights in Western Sahara

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the United Nations’ Security Council (SC) to create a mechanism for regular observation of human rights in Western Sahara, according to a report released Friday by the organization. Human Rights Watch said that the UN Security Council should ensure that the UN presence in the region includes regular human rights monitoring, added the same source. “All UN peacekeeping missions around the world include a human rights component and, with MINURSO forces operating in a peacekeeper capacity in Western Sahara, this region should be no exception.” Morocco has ruled Western Sahara de facto since its troops invaded the territory following Spain’s withdrawal from its former colony in 1976. Morocco officially refers to the region as its "southern provinces," but the United Nations does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the last colony in Africa. Morocco opposed as unworkable a UN-brokered plan for a referendum on the territory’s future and has proposed autonomy for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. Rabat made it clear, however, that the plan envisages no rollback of laws criminalizing "attacks on territorial integrity." Thus, Moroccan-granted autonomy will not give Saharawis their right to demand independence or a referendum to decide the region’s future. "Sahrawis differ on how to resolve the conflict," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "But wherever they live, authorities must allow them peacefully to express and act on behalf of those views, she added, estimating that “Any proposed solution for the Western Sahara that does not guarantee these rights is no solution at all."

HRW welcomes the role of the Polisario Front in the respect of human rights

Human Rights Watch (HRW) welcomed the role played by Polisario Front for the respect of human rights in Western Sahara, stressing "The improved situation of human rights in the Saharawi refugee camps." "In the Saharawi refugee camps, the Polisario Front allows refugees to criticize its management of daily affairs,” HRW said in its report. “Residents are able to leave the camps if they wish to, including to resettle in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. The fact that most take the main road to Mauritania rather than a clandestine route shows their confidence in being allowed to travel,” added the same source. "The refugees in Tindouf have, for more than 30 years, lived in exile from their homeland, governed by a liberation movement in an environment that is physically harsh and isolated," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Morocco "violates” the rights to freedom of expression in Western Sahara (HRW)

Morocco "violates the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly in Western Sahara, said the new report of Human Rights Watch (HRW), sent to the UN Security Council and made public Saturday on its website. In this report of 216 pages, the director of the division of the Middle East and North Africa at HRW, Sarah Leah Whitson, said that "Morocco uses a combination of repressive laws, police violence and unfair trials to suppress Sahrawis who struggle peacefully for independence or full self-determination for Western Sahara ", indicating it is " An international issue that has been holding for decades." "In Western Sahara, the Moroccan authorities consider any opposition to their administration of the territory (Western Sahara) as illegal attack on territorial integrity of Morocco" adding that they (the Moroccan authorities) use this position to ban or disperse peaceful demonstrations and to deny legal recognition to organizations defending human rights ". According to HRW "the problem goes beyond the repressive laws" because as it is explained in the document, "the police beats demonstrators that call peacefully for independence and sometimes torture detainees." Citizens file formal complaints about police abuse that the justice system routinely dismisses without conducting serious investigations, reinforcing a climate of impunity for the police," says the HRW document. HRW confirms that Moroccan courts have charged Saharawi human rights “activists” for "inciting or participating in acts of violence based on dubious evidence at completely unfair trials". HRW estimates that the Security Council of the United Nations should provide "guarantees" so that his presence (the UN) in the region could involve a Regular "mechanism" for monitoring of human rights, stressing that France and the United States, as permanent members of the Security Council and have the "strongest interest in this region," must play a "crucial" role. The organization considers all UN peacekeeping missions around the world include a human rights component and, with MINURSO forces operating in a peacekeeper capacity in Western Sahara, this region should be no exception. While recalling that HRW takes no position on the issue of independence of Western Sahara, the director of the division of the Middle East and North Africa of this international NGO has made a series of recommendations to end the violation of human rights in the region. The Organization recommends to "revise or abolish" laws that make "illegal" the political expression and activities of organizations deemed to undermine the "territorial integrity" of Morocco and are also used to "suppress" the non-violent actions for defending the Saharawi rights. It also recommends putting an end to the "impunity" for "abuse" committed by the police (Moroccan) ensuring "serious" investigations to the complaints of civilians and that disciplinary measures are applied against the officials. Finally, HRW urged judges and prosecutors to respect the rights of suspects under Moroccan law to be examined by a doctor and dismiss evidence based on statements which are proven to have been obtained under torture. The Saharawi Minister of Justice Mr. Hamada Selma Daf said Friday that the government of the SADR and the Polisario Front "supports the call for HRW to the Security Council for the establishment, within the MINURSO, a mechanism for observation and regular supervision of the situation of human rights in occupied Western Sahara and the Saharawi refugee camps." MINURSO "can not continue to be the exception to the rule of all peace missions of United Nations in the world" said Minister of Justice.

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