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Western Sahara: human rights defender Aminatou Haidar wins Silver Rose Award 2007

Aminatou Haidar the Saharawi woman human rights defender and member of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA), has won the Silver Rose Award 2007. The Silver Rose is awarded annually by the international organisation Solidar, to celebrate the outstanding achievements of individuals and organizations who are active in the fight for social justice.  Read More

Western Saharan human rights defenders prison sentence extended

On 22 May 2007, a Court of Appeal in El Ayoune extended the sentences of leading human rights defenders Brahim Sabbar and Ahmed Sbai detained in El Ayoune Civil, ‘Black Prison’ since June 2006.  Read More

Concern for the safety of two Western Saharan human rights defenders

Western Saharan human rights defenders Brahim Sabbar and Ahmed Sbai were brutally assaulted while in detention in the Laâyoune Civil, ‘Black Prison’ on 19 January 2007.

Reportedly, a number of police from the Mobile Intervention Forces entered a cell where the two human rights defenders and 16 other political prisoners were being detained and violently beat the prisoners with batons.

Front Line is particularly concerned for the safety of Brahim Sabbar, who apparently had his leg broken during the attack and has not been given access to medical treatment. The attack followed a month of demonstrations by the human rights defenders and the political prisoners at the “Black Prison”.

Brahim Sabbar is the Secretary General of the Association Sahraouie des Victimes des Violations Graves des Droits de l’Homme Commises par l’Etat du Maroc (ASVDH). He was arrested with Sbai Ahmed, a member of the Advisory Council of the ASVDH and a member of the Comité pour la Protection des Détenus de la Prison Noire, on 17 June 2006 in Boujdour, Western Sahara, following an inaugural meeting of the Boujdour branch of the ASVDH.  Read More

Front Line Western Sahara Mission report

Front Line Western Sahara Mission

A Front Line mission travelled to Morocco and Western Sahara between 3 and 10 of May 2006. The delegates visited Rabat, Casablanca, Laâyoune and Smara and met with human rights defenders (including several of those released from detention in March and April), journalists and representatives of civil society. The delegates also met with the Director of Penal Reform and Amnesties at the Ministry of Justice and the Procureur General of the Court of Appeal in Laâyoune to discuss reports of torture against detained human rights defenders. At the end of the mission a meeting was conducted in Rabat with a group of diplomats from EU member states to discuss the findings of the mission.

Front Line Western Sahara Mission Report

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Front Line platform 2005 participant on hunger strike

1 September 2005

A Sahrawi (Western Saharan) human rights defender, due to attend the bi-annual Front Line platform for human rights defenders in October, is unlikely to appear as he is on hunger strike in a Moroccan prison.

Ali Salem Tamek (31), a founding member of the Saharan branch of the human rights organization Forum for Truth and Justice, is being held without charge in Ait Meloul prison, Morocco.

Mr. Tamek was arrested on July 18th at D’el Ayoun airport after returning from Europe where he had been campaigning for Western Saharan independence from Morocco and raising awareness of human rights violations in the region. According to The Sahara Presse Service, Tamek, along with four other imprisoned Sahrawi human rights defenders, Mohamed Elmoutaoikil, El Hussein Lidri, Brahim Noumria and Laarbi Massoud, has been on hunger strike for three weeks.

Front Line is seriously concerned about the health of Ali Salem Talek and calls on the Moroccan authorities for his immediate and unconditional release

Human rights defenders defy repression in Western Sahara

11 May 2006

In spite of the release of human rights defenders and others from detention in March and April, the Moroccan authorities continue to try to repress any independent human rights work in Western Sahara. Human rights organizations are denied legal registration and human rights defenders are subjected to heavy surveillance, threats and harassment.

“The Moroccan authorities must move to ensure that human rights defenders are free to undertake their legitimate work in conformity with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,” said Front Line Deputy Director, Andrew Anderson, at the end of a Front Line mission to Western Sahara. “The international community must also play a much stronger role in ensuring that independent civil society can operate freely as a prerequisite for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

Front Line met with human rights defenders operating under constant heavy surveillance in Laayoune and Smara. Security agents surrounded private houses in which meetings were being held and people coming to meet with Front Line had their ID cards checked.  Read More