Moroccan police detain disabled Western Saharan in front of besieged house of Aminatou Haidar
06/01/2010 | Information-Update
Today, Wednesday, January 6, at 11h00am, a group of Moroccan police headed by Mohamed El-Hassouni (‘the Mustache’), and under the orders of Abdelaziz Anouch (‘Touhima’), detained Mr. El-Garhi Chrif to arrest him.
This took place in front of Ms. Aminatou Haidars’ home while Mr El-Garhi Cherif tried to visit her. The human rights activist Ms. Haidar has been under house arrest and blockade since her return to El Aaiun on December 18, 2009.
Mr Cherif El-Garhi, a friend of Ms. Haidar, is a former Saharawi political prisoner and member of the coordinating council of ASVDH. He is blind and suffers from numerous physical ailments incurred in the 1980s during years of enforced ‘disappearance’ in the barracks PCCMI in El Aaiun, Western Sahara, with a group of Saharawis, among them Ms. Haidar.
Despite his health condition and disabilities, the Moroccan police intervened brutally against him. He was taken to the fourth district precinct of the Moroccan police of El Aiun.
Though Mr. El-Garhi is blind, the report of the arrest has not been read to by the officer in charge of drafting the document. The Moroccan authorities have demanded Mr El-Garhi Chrif to sign this document as a condition of his release, without informing its content and without giving him a copy.
The ASVDH condemns this criminal act and urges the United Nations to shoulder its responsibilities and act towards the effective implementation of its role in human rights monitoring, and considering reports that have been made on the issue, the pending resolution of conflict can have no basis other than self-determination.
