New politically motivated trials, intimidation from Moroccan authorities in occupied Western Sahara

27/05/2008 | Newsletter

Moroccan judicial police arrested on Saturday, May 24, 2008, former Sahrawi political prisoner Mr. Bachir YAYA (26 years, picture right) in front of his family’s house located in Zemla district of El-Ayoune, occupied Western Sahara, at about 11h00 AM. They took him to the headquarters of the Provincial Security of Morocco where he was questioned for more than eleven hours.

Mr. Yaya confirmed affirmed that he was subjected to beatings and verbal abuse and insults inside a police car before he was taken to Provincial Security. He also emphasized that the judicial police officer Mr. Abdelaziz ANNOUCHE had supervised his detention without cause and subjected him to ill-treatment and interrogated him for several hours under difficult circumstances.

Mr. Yaya was previously arrested on political grounds in El-Ayoune, occupied Western Sahara, on May 25, 2005 on the basis of his participation in peaceful demonstrations for self-determination in Western Sahara. He was tried and given six years in prison by the first degree court of Morocco. The sentence was later reduced to four years in prison by the appellate court before he was released together with a group of Sahrawi human rights defenders and political prisoners on March 25, 2008. Also, Mr. Yaya has been detained by Morocco several times, most recently on June 7, 2007, while returning from Mauritania.

In the southern city of Dakhla, occupied Western Sahara, the Moroccan police arrested the Sahrawi citizen, Mr. Sidi ELMEKI (19 years), yesterday Monday, May 26, 2008, at about 10h00 AM. On the same day, at 06h00 in the morning, Moroccan police agents had already stormed the house of the family of this young Sahrawi, searching every part of the dwelling and creating fear and panic among the family members. The Moroccan policemen did not provide any document that would have allowed them to break into the house and on the causes of the intrusion.

In Dakhla as well, the First Degree Court of Morocco sentenced yesterday, Monday, May 26, 2008, the Sahrawi political prisoner Mr. Charif Hamada BOUAAILA (23 years) and Mr. Amrabih BOUSEIF (24 years) to four months. They were detained on May 22, 2008, for distributing information leaflets and the flag of the Polisario Front in that city.