Western Sahara: UPDATE - Trial of seven human rights defenders adjourned until 5 November 2010 while lawyers and observers were harassed

Posted on 2010/10/19
 

Front Line has received the following update in relation to the case of seven Western Saharan human rights defenders including Mr Ali Salem Tamek, Mr Brahim Dahane and Mr Ahmad Anasiri.

Further Information
On 15 October 2010, the Moroccan criminal court of Casablanca adjourned the trial of seven Sahrawi human rights defenders until 5 November 2010. Three of the human rights defenders, namely Mr Ali Salem Tamek, Mr Brahim Dahane, and Mr Ahmad Anasiri, were not permitted to travel to the court hearing from Sale prison where they are currently being held. The other four defendants, who were released on bail earlier this year, namely Mr Yadih Ettarrouzi, Mr Rachid Sghayar, Mr Saleh Lebayhi and Ms Idagja Lachgare, presented themselves to the court.

A representative of the defence team stated that the legal nature of the case has been changed from “felony” to “delinquency”. The human rights defenders have been accused of “endangering the security of the state”, an accusation which the defence team stated was not based on any evidence.

During the session, a large number of Moroccan lawyers, who are apparently against self-determination for Western Sahara, shouted slogans and harassed the defendants, their lawyers and Sahrawi and international observers who attended the session.

In response to the failure of the court to hear the case, Mr Ali Salem Tamek, Mr Brahim Dahane and Mr Ahmad Anasiri issued a joint statement condemning the Moroccan state for persistently denying them the right
to a fair trial. They also condemned the manner in which the Moroccan lawyers harassed both the defendants and their legal representatives, as well as Sahrawi and international observers. Mr Ali Salem Tamek, Mr Brahim Dahane and Mr Ahmad Anasiri have announced that in protest against the manner in which the Moroccan authorities have dealt with their case, and to highlight the denial of their legitimate right to a fair trial, they will go on hunger strike on 19 and 20 October 2010.

Mr Ali Salem Tamek is the Vice-President of the Sahrawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA); Mr Brahim Dahane is the President of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights (ASVDH), and Mr Ahmad Anasiri is the General Secretary of the Sahrawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Smara. The three human rights defenders were arrested along with four others on 8 October 2009 at Mohamed V Airport in Casablanca. The other four defenders - Mr Yadih Ettarrouzi, Mr Rachid Sghayar, Mr Saleh Lebayhi and Ms Idagja Lachgare - were released on bail earlier this year. On 21 September 2010 the military court in Rabat declined jurisdiction over the case of Ali Salem Tamek, Brahim Dahane and Ahmad Anaciri.

Please see the previous Front Line update of 15 October 2010

Source

http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/13593

Hmad Hammad en el Parlament de Catalunya y en el Col.legi de Periodistes de Catalunya

Hmad Hammad, vicepresidente de CODAPSO hizo una comparecencia en la reunión del Intergrupo para la Paz y la Libertad en el Sahara del Parlamento de Cataluña, acompañado de Cristina Navarro, jurista, Núria Salamé y Miquel Cartró, de la ACAPS, y Mah Iahdih, representante de la Delegación del Frente Polisario en Cataluña. El acto fue presidido por Miquel Carrillo, diputado en el Parlamento de Cataluña por ERC y coordinador del Intergrupo, con la presencia de Rafael López (PPC) y Lluís Postigo (ICV-EUiA). Los representantes de CiU y del PSC-CpC lamentablemente no asistieron. En el mismo acto, representantes del Consell Nacional de la Joventut explicaron su experiencia en un intercambio con UJSARIO en los campamentos de refugiados. Hmad Hammad leyó un informe sobre la represión y la vulneración sistemática de los derechos humanos por parte de las fuerzas de ocupación de Marruecos en los territorios ocupados.

Seguidamente, Hmad Hammad fue acompañado y aclamado por una amplia representación del movimiento solidario con el pueblo saharaui, en una conferencia en el Col.legi de Periodistes de Catalunya. La conferencia trató sobre la situación que se vive actualmente en el Sáhara Occidental sometido a la ocupación de Marruecos desde hace 34 años. Durante este tiempo la población saharaui sufre un plan sistemático de represión y genocidio, con una violencia extrema, violaciones, torturas, desapariciones forzadas ... "La represión se extiende a todas las familias saharauis, todas tienen alguna víctima y todo pasa ante los ojos de la MINURSO, que es cómplice de ello". Las autoridades y las fuerzas de ocupación de Marruecos intentan eliminar todos los aspectos socioculturales, históricos, ritos tradicionales o identitarios del pueblo saharaui. En este sentido no sorprende la reciente expulsión de la cooperante Sara Domene, que daba clases de español en el Aaiun y, por ello, la han acusado de ser "una grave amenaza para el orden público y su expulsión una necesidad imperiosa para salvaguardar la seguridad pública ". La población saharaui también sufre la represión económica empobreciéndola a la vez que expolian los recursos naturales. Hmad Hammad rindió homenaje a la intifada saharaui, la resistencia pacífica y organizada de la población saharaui para reclamar la autodeterminación y la independencia.

Hmad Hammad exigió la liberación de los presos políticos, la retirada de las unidades de represión, el acceso de los medios de comunicación i de observadors internacionales en la zona ocupada, la información sobre el destino de los desaparecidos y la celebración de un referéndum libre de autodeterminación, que acabe con el sufrimiento del pueblo saharaui causado por la irresponsabilidad del Estado español, la ocupación de Marruecos y la pasividad y complicidad de la comunidad internacional.

An Open Letter to all those who supported us

The Sahrawi human rights defenders,

The six prisoners of conscience at

The Local Prison of Salé,

Morocco.

April 30th, 2010

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED US

We greet you very warmly….

We must first apologise for being all this late in thanking all those who supported us. That was not certainly because of the daily constraints that come after suspending a hunger strike, but it was rather due to our conscious awareness of our incapacity to generate an intellectual, linguistic production that can guarantee a minimum of equity to you.

In other words, it was very difficult for us to adequately qualify the exceptional militant action you have been doing. It was exceptional in its honesty and perseverance; an action which was characterised by its continuous creativity in ending up an atmosphere of satisfaction towards an unacceptable reality in the Western Sahara, existing against the international and humnitarian laws.

This reality is being hidden from the whole world. It is being marketed under the names of ''Stability and Development''. It hides unimaginable crimes, and it is being supervised by France, unfortunately; the country which pretends that its legitimity has been founded on the defense of liberties. Meanwhike, it is offering Morocco the umbrella to continue its prosecution of the peaceful Sahrawis in the occupied part of the Western Sahara.

Not only did your invaluable support help us, as Sahrawi hunger-striking prisoners in the Moroccan jails, overcome whatever difficulties and continue our struggle, but it also set up a large dynamism which gathered different defenders of human dignity to denounce, in strong and collective ways, the inhuman crimes perpetrated against the Sahrawi civilians in the occupied part of the Western Sahara.

Hence, a mending measure has to take place as soon as possible; that is to say, an urgent need to adequate laws as far as the protection of human rights is concerned has now become indispensible. Simply put, a mechanism to monitor human rights in the Western Sahara has to be included in the mandate of the Minurso on the ground.

For these reasons, we should like to address our gratitudes to the international and Moroccan human rights organisations, namely Amnesty International, which has been leading a strong campaign through its branches, Frontline, Human Rights Watch, R. F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in the USA, the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, Al Wassit ( =The Mediator) Organisation for Democracy and Human Rights ( Morocco), The Moroccan Forum For Truth and Equity, The Moroccan National Body for the Solidarity with all the Political Prisoners, the members of the defense body, who had been following our arrest from the start, the Sahrawi committees and organisations such as The Local Committee of Salé ( composed of Sahrawi defenders and university students), the continental and regional parliaments such as the European Parliament, The African Parliament, the national parliaments from Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Sweden, South Africa, Nigeria,etc.

Our thanks also should be addressed to various governmental institutions, The National Commmittee Responsible for Following the Sahrawi political prisoners' conditions, hunger striking in the Moroccan jails, The Coordination Committee in Spain, the different political parties, trade unions and associations in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Australia, the civil society in both Spain and Algeria, The Algerian National Committee of the Solidarity with the Sahrawi People, Annahj Addimoqrati (=the Democratic Path) party from Morocco, some Moroccan noble journalists, The Christian Religious Movement all over the world, the Nobel Prize-winners in different fields, the Committees and associations of solidarity with the Sahrawi people, the mass media in different forms such as TV channels, radios, newspapers and websites, the lawyers, human rights campaigners, journalists, artists, poets, actors, film-makers, musicians, sportspeople, the families of the disappeared and the kidnapped and the political prisoners, and finally the brave Sahrawi people wherever it is and the Sahrawi students at the Moroccan universities and abroad.

To all these and those whom we have not been able to mention, we say millions of thanks; We were deeply moved by your help and we will never forget your historical support. It is obvious that it embodies the strong will of all the noble people in this world to struggle for the prevailing of human honest values until the dignity of Man is imposed.

Again, thank you very much ….

And long live the international solidarity movement worldwide for the respect of human rights in the Western Sahara and the world.

The Sahrawi human rights defenders, the six prisoners of conscience:

- Ali Salem Tamek,

- Brahim Dahan

- Ahmed Naciri

- Yahdih Ettarrouzi

- Rachid Sghayar

- Saleh Lebaihi

April 30th, 2010

The Local Prison of Salé, Morocco.

Presos saharauis en huelga de hambre

Morocco must end harassment of Sahrawi activists

9 April 2010

Amnesty International has called on the Moroccan authorities to end the ongoing harassment and intimidation of Sahrawi activists, as five of six who have been detained since last October began the fourth week of a hunger strike in protest at their detention without trial.

The hunger strikers are among a number of Sahrawi activists who have faced harassment and intimidation after visiting refugee camps in Algeria administered by the Polisario Front, which calls for the independence of Western Sahara and has set up a self-proclaimed government-in-exile.

One group was beaten with batons at Laayoune airport last Wednesday when they returned to Western Sahara from the Tindouf refugee camps.

The six detainees on hunger strike were among seven Sahrawi activists arrested on 8 October 2009 at Mohammed V airport in Casablanca when they returned from visiting the Tindouf camps in Algeria. Read more [+]

Source: Amnesty International