Two Western Saharans arrested in Morocco

07/06/2008 | Newsletter

Yesterday morning Moroccan security forces arrested, Mr. Abderrahman ZAWAN, a native of Western Sahara, at Boufous Café in Tarfaya, Morocco. Some witnesses reported ten gendarmes involved in the arrest of Mr. ZAWAN (26 years), who proceeded to beat him in the street before he was take to the headquarters of the judicial police in El-Ayoune, in the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara. From there, he is supposed to be brought to trial on charges of assault by the Pasha of Tarfaya following demonstrations organized last month in that city.

Reports also indicate that in the Draa river, north of Tan-Tan (southern Morocco), the Moroccan authorities have arrested another Western Saharan, Mr. Saleh Malainine BRAMI (alias: Ayoub), who was resisting efforts to demolish his house by the Moroccan military (Gendarmes and Axillary Forces). Mr. BRAMI (aged 19 years) works in fishing and poultry farming in the region. According to his family, Mr. BRAMI was targeted because of his opinions related to the Western Sahara conflict. Mr. BRAMI is still under detention in the prison Leqbeibat in the city of Tan-Tan, and he is likely to be moved to prison of Inezgane, near Agadir in southern Morocco.