Western Sahara: Refusal to renew passports of Sahrawi human rights defenders, Ms El Ghalia Djimi and Mr Mustafa Al-Dah
The Moroccan authorities have refused to renew the passports of human rights defenders Ms El Ghalia Djimi and Mr Mustafa Al-Dah and return the passports to them, on 23 January 2010. El Ghalia Djimi is the vice-president of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights (ASVDH), a human rights organisation based in Western Sahara which monitors and documents human rights abuses, and campaigns for an end to impunity. Mustafa Al-Dah is a member of the coordinating council of the same organisation. Front Line previously sent an appeal in relation to El Ghalia Djimi on 31 October 2007.
Further Information
On 23 January 2010, the passport department in Laayoune city in Western Sahara refused to return El Ghalia Djimi and Mustafa Al-Dah's passports to them. The two human rights defenders had submitted their passports to the department for renewal.
This incident takes place in the context of a clampdown on human rights defenders in Western Sahara. On 8 October 2009, seven human rights defenders who work for various human rights organisations in Western Sahara were detained when coming back from a trip to Algeria. They are now facing serious charges before a military court. In a separate incident, on 13 November 2009, prominent human rights defender Aminatou Haidar was denied reentry to her homeland and sent to Spain. She was finally allowed to return home to her family after 32 days on hunger strike. Many other Sahrawi human rights defenders are also in detention, subjected to harassment and prevented from travelling abroad.
Front Line believes that the refusal to return El Ghalia Djimi and Mustafa Al-Dah's passports to them is directly related to their legitimate and peaceful activities in the defence of human rights, and in particular to their work with ASVDH in documenting human rights abuses in Morocco-administrated Western Sahara. Concern is expressed that the clampdown on Sahrawi defenders is an attempt to hinder their legitimate human rights work.
This Urgent Appeal has now ended. No further action is requested at this point. Thank you for taking action on this case.
Front Line issues Urgent Appeals on behalf of human rights defenders at risk on a daily basis. These Appeals normally remain active on our web site for a period of up to six weeks, depending on the situation. After this time they will be archived. Front Line maintains a watching brief on all these cases but no further action is requested after the six weeks, unless there is a significant development in the case.
