Ahmed Nassiri

Ali Salem Tamek

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.

Given these dangerous incidents that demonstrate the lack of genuine will of the Moroccan state to fulfill the conditions for a fair trial;

We declare:
• Our strong condemnation of the Moroccan State’s behaviour in dealing with political trials.
• Our absolute condemnation of the public prosecutor and the court’s Chair for not taking any clear procedures to create the appropriate atmosphere by stopping these attacks, which demonstrates their approval and involvement.
• Our condemnation of the aggressive attitude of a group of Moroccan lawyers who should have defended our right to a legal trial.
• Our homage for the unconditional support we receive of all democrats in the world; from observers, journalists, lawyers and international, Moroccan and Saharawi human rights organizations.

➢ We demand:
• A fair trial that respects all the legal conditions
• Our conditions in the local prison of Casablanca ‘Okacha’ be improved, and our legitimate rights – currently taken from us – restored.

We decide to protest against all this by a limited hunger strike of 48 hour, starting on Tuesday 11 January 2011.

We call upon everybody to support us.

The Saharawi prisoners of conscience:
• Ali Salem Tamek, number of arrest 74067
• Brahim Dahane, number of arrest 74068
• Ahmad Nasiri, number of arrest 74069

Cell block 12, room N° 01, the local prison of Casablanca ‘Okacha’
09 January 2011

Balagh Brahim and Ali Salem Bariaz were arrested December, 13, 2008, and incarcerated in Marrakesh’s local prison awaiting trial. Said El Ouaban was arrested June 3, 2009 in Smara and was transferred from Marrakesh to Salé prison because of university exams he too awaiting trial and an official charge .

The Judge Juan Jiménez Vidal and lawyer Fernando Gomilla Mercadal are two international observers attended the hearing as well as Hassana Douihi member of the ASVDH and Sbaii Ahmed secretary general of the Sahrawi Committee for the Protection of Prisoners.

Although the detainees follow-up in the two separately cases the judge of hearing, surprised all by merging the two files and postponed consideration of the case to July 20, 2010.

According to Mr. Abdellah Chalouk in a meeting with the ASVDH, the judge’s decision is a personal initiative. Indeed, such a collective decision to refer more cases can be legally taken only after discussion and consultation with the defense.

Abdellah Chalouk also confirmed that the judge did not follow normal procedures in this case. The intention of this postponement was before the trial and calls into question the impartiality of the judiciary.
Marrakesh, Morocco
08.07.2010

His lawyer, Mohamed Sabari, who ensuring the defense of the accused, attended the hearing.

Mr Haddi was returned to prison without the court setting the date of his trial.

ASVDH believes that the arrest of Mr. Haddi is due to its political commitments on the issue of Western Sahara. The arrest occurred during a period of increased repression by the Moroccan state against Saharawi human rights defenders, starting October 6, 2009.

El-Aiun Western Sahara
29/01/2010

ASVDH welcomes its colleague Degja and wishes her well as she attempts to recover her health. ASVDH also launches a call to international organizations to put pressure on the Moroccan government to free unconditionally the six other human rights defenders held in Salé, and for the liberation of all Sahrawi political prisoners in the various Moroccan prisons.

Their conditions of detention are harsh and not consistent with international or Moroccan law.

The authorities of the prison of Ait Melloul have been deliberately trying to intimidate the research students since their arrival in accordance with instructions and recommendations accompanying the transfer of the two detainees since the prison in Casablanca. The students have been separated since their arrival in the middle of last week. Each lives in a cell with 47 common law prisoners.

The two students were arrested on board a train following a political debate with a man who later presented himself as an officer in the royal palace.

They were quickly sent to the Court of First Instance in Casablanca, which issued a verdict in less than forty-eight hours, condemning them to a year in prison. The Court of Appeal had then reduced the sentence to six months in prison.

The Ait Melloul prison authorities have also placed heavy burdens on their families during visits, conducting body searches, including underwear. These acts of intimidation have been accompanied by racist words and insults.

The Moroccan authorities have seized all the books and documents with which both students were preparing for their University thesis, and has refused to deliver them to their families, arguing they were lost.

ASVDH strongly denounces these repressive measures affecting human rights defenders, intellectuals, workers, and other Sahrawi citizens.

We reiterate our demand for the immediate and unconditional release of the Group of Edegja Lachgar and all other Saharawi political prisoners.

El-Aiun Western Sahara
26/01/2010

According to Ms. Fatima Lachgar, her sister began refusing to eat last Monday, surviving on sugar-water, and has remained on strike to today, Friday. She insists to be allowed to meet with her colleagues, despite the prison administration commit to her first two such petitions.

We recall that Ms. Degja Lachgar, survivor of secret detention centers in the 1980s, because of her political positions, suffers from mental illness since her last arrest in October 2009.

For more details, you can read the ASVDH report on the visit of the Vice-President Ms. Ghalia Djimi in Rabat and Sale Prison [French / Arabic ].

El-Aiun Western Sahara
21/01 / 2010

Also, the intervention of Mrs Khadija Merouazi, Secretary General of the Mediation for Democracy and Human Rights in Morocco, before the Moroccan military court in Rabat helped Ms Dagja Lachgar, a prisoner of conscience and member of executive office of ASVDH, before two psychologists.

Their expertise has been presented to the the Moroccan military court judge, attesting to her fragile psychological status. As a result, the prison administration transferred Ms Degja Lachgar to a cell with six common law female prisoners.

Background

Ms. Dagja Lachgar was arrested in October 2009 in Casablanca with a group of 6 other human rights activists, including the President of the ASVDH. She was detained since that time in a solitary cell without the most basic sanitary facilities. She was psychologically harassed constantly by guards and inmates in neighboring cells.

The arrest had been processed through the Moroccan authorities after the return of the 7 activists to a visit to the Saharawi refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria.

They were interrogated for more than a week by the highest levels of Morocco’s Intelligence services before they were referred to a military court in Rabat. This procedure meant that the penalties can be very heavy and can not be appealed.

The judge heard Ms Dagja Lachgar for more than four hours, ascertaining on her mental state before returning her to the prison. Mr Ahmed Nassiri and Yahdih Ettarouzi were brought before the same judge after hearing Ms. Dagja Lachgar.

Ms. Djimi El-Ghalia (Vice President of ASVDH) visted Mrs. Dagja Lachgar last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the seventh member of the detained group Rachid Sghaer was already brought before the investigating judge Monday. The three other prisoners (Brahim Dahane, President of ASVDH; Ali Salem Tamek, Vice-President of CODESA; Saleh Labihi, President of the Sahraoui Forum to Protect Children) were brought before the same court yesterday, Wednesday, December 30.

They are Brahim Dahane, president of ASVDH, Ali Salem Tamek, Vice-President of CODESA, Saleh Labihi President of the Sahraoui Forum to Protect Childhood.

Three other prisoners will appear before the same judge tomorrow, Thursday. They are Dagje Lachgar, member of the executive office of ASVDH, Ahmad Nassiri, member of the coordination council of the ASVDH, and Yahdih Ettarouzi, a human rights defender.

Meanwhile, the seventh member of the detained group, Rachid Sghaer, was brought before the investigating judge Monday.

He visited him in the Moroccan prison of Oukacha (Casablanca) today December 17, 2009, around 10:00 for 20 minutes.

The brother added that his brother began a hunger strike 10 days after his abduction by Moroccan authorities when he was at Timar in Rabat, Morocco.

Ahmed Mahmoud Haddi said that he has been subjected to mental and physical torture and has been repeatedly visited by the Direction of Territorial Surveillance (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, DST) for questioning.

The brother said that Ahmed Mahmoud Haddi has lost almost 30 kg of weight and that since his transfer to Oukacha has not been able to contact his family.

He is being held in solitary confinement in a cell of 1.5m X 1.5 m under inhumane conditions.

He also confirmed that he has not signed his alleged verbal statement (‘procès verbal’) of the Moroccan police because it contains statements that are not his.

He believes his interrogation has been based on his relations with the Polisario Front and information Moroccan authorities found on his computer, such as a paper like the Sahrawi document dedicated to him from the Sahrawi Government in the refugee camps.

Information Letter
El Aiun, 17 December 2009
Western Sahara