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THE FAMILY OF SAHARAWI TAQUI BARKETT DENOUNCED THE SENTENCE AGAINST THE PRINCIPAL DEFENDANT

29 / 01 / 2012 | Newsletter

El-Aaiun – Sahara Occidental 28.01.2012 The family of Taqui Barkett, a Saharawi citizen murdered a year ago by moroccans have denounced the sentence against the principal defendant in a communication to ASVDH. In a sentence pronounced last month, the court of Agadir sentenced the accused of the murder to four years in prison and released [...]

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FOUR MONTHS AFTER THEIR ARREST DAKHLA POLITICAL PRISIONERS ARE LIVING IN WRETCHED CONDITIONS

25 / 01 / 2012 | Newsletter

El-Aaiun – Sahara Occidental 25.01.2012 Four months after their arrest, in September 2011, after the events occurred in the city of Dakhla, West Sahara, the Saharawi political prisoners are living in wretched conditions. The detainees’ families have alerted the ASVDH (The Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State) [...]

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Joint-Statement for a Western Sahara without violence and racism

02 / 10 / 2011 | Statements

Since 25 September 2011, the Saharawi civilians in Dakhla, in the south of Western Sahara, are facing brutal and oppressive attacks from Moroccan armed militias. These militias reside in the Alwakala neighbourhood, home to thousands of Moroccan settlers brought into the territory by the Moroccan government in 1991, to participate in the envisioned referendum in Western Sahara. Saharawis’ lives and physical safety are in danger, their houses raided and private and public property burned. The military has sealed off the road to Dakhla, thereby obstructing the media so as to hide the serious crimes committed with impunity by the Moroccan intelligence services and armed militias. This Moroccan aggression is rooted in racism, and has resulted in dozens of casualties among Saharawi, who try to flee the city to save their lives.

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Video: Sahrawi workers and rights activists protesting in the Moroccan controlled Western Sahara

23 / 05 / 2011 | Images and Video

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Human Rights Watch: Sahrawi Activists, Detained 18 Months, Await Verdict. Trial Delays, Limited Evidence Raise Concerns of Politically Motivated Prosecution

08 / 04 / 2011 | Solidarity-Support

Three Western Sahara activists have been in pretrial detention for 18 months, with numerous delays in their trial, Human Rights Watch said today. Their trial on charges of « harming [Morocco's] internal security » has proceeded in fits and starts, with limited evidence produced against them. Four co-defendants are provisionally free. The police arrested the six men and one woman on October 8, 2009, upon their return from visiting the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. Unlike previous low-profile family visits by Sahrawis from the disputed, Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara to the refugee camps, this delegation openly met there with officials of the Polisario, the Sahrawi independence movement that runs a government-in-exile and administers the camps. « The court trying the seven Sahrawi activists should without any further delay issue a verdict that properly presents the evidence and reasoning behind the verdict, » said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

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RFK Center Report: Western Sahara: Accounts of Human Rights Abuses in Wake of November Unrest

20 / 02 / 2011 | Solidarity-Support

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The RFK Center finds evidence of escalating abuse, torture, and arbitrary imprisonment in Western Sahara

19 / 01 / 2011 | Solidarity-Support

Torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, failure to follow criminal procedures, and repression of civilians by Moroccan government forces are all too common in Western Sahara, according to the findings of a recent visit to El Aaiun by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

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Three Sahrawi prisoners of conscience to stage 48 hour hungerstrike for fair trial, better prison conditions

09 / 01 / 2011 | Political Prisoners, Statements

Our last four trials in the court of first instance in Casablanca took place under extraordinary circumstances. Various security forces and severe restrictive measures were employed to prevent our families from entering the court building. Moreover, hundreds of Moroccan citizens and dozens of lawyers were mobilized to protest inside the court; they chanted racist and chauvinistic slogans, and physically attacked us and all other detainees, as well as our families, some members of the defence, international observers and journalists.

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Two Sahrawi activists abducted by anonymous Moroccan security forces

26 / 12 / 2010 | Newsletter

Friday evening December 24, 2010, two Sahrawi activists were kidnapped by a group of men in civilian clothes believed to be affiliated to the Moroccan gendarmerie services.

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Two Sahrawi youth activists arrested at Casablanca airport

26 / 12 / 2010 | Newsletter

Two Saharawi human rights defenders were arrested today in the airport of Casablanca, Morocco on their return from South Africa where they participated with 27 other Sahrawi activists at the 17th World Festival of Youth and students.

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