ASVDH Statement on Morocco's Heavy Sentences against Sahrawi demonstrators

11/10/2008 | Newsletter

The Court of Appeal in Agadir pronounced heavy sentences against eight Sahrawi political prisoners (Group of Mr. Yahya Mohamad Elhafed Iazza), ranging from one year suspended to fifteen years. Those political prisoners were arrested far from the events that they are accused of, and this excludes the case of flagrante delicto. Also their case is marked by many violations, including sexual abuse, as has declared by one of them, who were all forced to sign the police report, and despite contradictions in the testimony of witnesses.

Still, the court sentenced Mr. Yahya Iazza to fifteen years in prison while it condemned Mr. Mohammed Salmi, Mr. Elmojahid Mayara, Mr. Mahmoud Elberkawi, Mr. Lehsen Lefkir, Mr. Najem Bouba and Mr. Salama Charafi to four years in prison. The court also condemned Mr. Omar Lefkir to one year suspended. The ASVDH considers that the trial has been marred by several violations, as it lacks the minimum norms of a fair trial.

ASVDH expresses its the strong condemnation of the harsh sentences against the prisoners and condemns the vicious campaign led by Moroccan authorities, which aims to harass human rights defenders and terrorize them, as well as crush the Sahrawi citizens and discourage them from expressing their political views and claiming their civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights;

…expresses its solidarity with the four political prisoners on hunger strike in the black prison since yesterday and renewed its support for the efforts of the international campaign for the release of all Sahrawi political detainees;

…condemns the violent intervention of security forces and the excessive use of force against a Sahrawi students in cities of Smara and Boujdour after who were organizing peaceful manifestations calling for their right to work, which resulted in several demonstrators injured and some of them have varying degrees of severity and subsequently taken to the hospital.

General Secretary
Brahim SABBAR