After an eighth postponement of the hearings, the verdict is now expected
The verdict on the case of the Sahrawi woman human rights defender Jamila Mojahid is expected to be delivered on Monday, 16 January 2023, following a hearing at the court of first instance in Laayoune. This comes after a long series of postponements of sessions conducted by the court.
On 5 December 2022, the court hearing in the case of Jamila Mojahid was postponed for the sixth time in a row, and rescheduled to take place on 26 December 2022. The judicial harassment against the Sahrawi woman human rights defender has been ongoing since 9 May 2022. Jamila Mojahid is facing the charge of “insulting public officials while performing their duties”.
Jam
ila Mojahid is a Sahrawi woman human rights defender whose work focuses on promoting the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people. She is the vice-president of the Laâyoune section of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH). She is also a member of the Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders Association in Western Sahara (CODESA). Jamila Mojahid has been facing different forms of harassment by the Moroccan security forces due to her human rights work, including detention and judicial harassment.
The verdict on the case of the Sahrawi woman human rights defender Jamila Mojahid is expected to be delivered on Monday, 16 January 2023, following a hearing at the court of first instance in Laayoune. This comes after a long series of postponements of sessions conducted by the court.
Jamila Mojahid is a Sahrawi woman human rights defender whose work focuses on promoting the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people. She is the vice-president of the Laayone section of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH). She is also a member of the Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders Association in Western Sahara (CODESA). Jamila Mojahid has been facing different forms of harassment by the Moroccan security forces due to her human rights work, including detention and judicial harassment.
For the eighth consecutive time, on 2 January 2023, the court of first instance in Laayoune postponed the trial of Jamila Mojahid, to 9 January 2023, due to the absence of a police officer, who’s attendance is important for the case and who is summoned to appear as a witness and corroborator of evidence. The young Sahrawi human rights defender appeared before said court as a free person, accompanied by her lawyer, who raised the issue of the repeated absence of the aforementioned policeman, underlining the need to wrap up this case which has lasted more than six months. The delay in part is due to the fact the Prosecution has failed to fulfil its obligations and to summon witnesses as it is supposed to.
In a public statement, CODESA reports that the trial was marked by the intense presence of Moroccan intelligence services, who proceeded to monitor and use cameras to take pictures of a group of Sahrawi human rights defenders who had attended the trial in support of, and in solidarity with Jamila Mojahid.
On 5 December 2022, the court hearing in the case of Jamila Mojahid was postponed for the sixth time in a row, and rescheduled to take place on 26 December 2022. The judicial harassment against the Sahrawi woman human rights defender has been ongoing since 9 May 2022. Jamila Mojahid is facing the charge of “insulting public officials while performing their duties”.
Jamila Mojahid is a Sahrawi woman human rights defender whose work focuses on promoting the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people. She is the vice-president of the Laâyoune section of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH). She is also a member of the Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders Association in Western Sahara (CODESA). Jamila Mojahid has been facing different forms of harassment by the Moroccan security forces due to her human rights work, including detention and judicial harassment.
On 5 December 2022, the Court of First Instance in Laâyoune postponed the court hearing in the case of the Sahrawi woman human rights defender Jamila Mojahid to 26 December 2022. The postponement was due to the non-attendance of the Moroccan police officer who is named as a prosecution’s witness in the case. This is the sixth postponement in a row of the court hearings in Jamila Mojahid’s case. The same court hearing was supposed to take place on 16 May 2022.
On 9 May 2022, Jamila Mojahid was released on bail for MAD 3,000 (approximately EUR 270). The woman human rights defender and her father, who were both arrested on 3 May 2022, were brought to the Laâyoune Police Department where a police interrogation report was issued on the charge of “insulting public officials while performing their duties”. They were both released on the evening of the same day, however, Jamila Mojahid was summoned to appear before the same police department on 9 May 2022. On 9 May 2022, the woman human rights defender found out that court proceedings were initiated against her based on the same charge. Jamila Mojahid was detained and brought before the Court of First Instance in Laâyoune. She was granted provisional release upon payment of bail on the same day.
Jamila Mojahid was arrested and detained on 3 May 2022 after Moroccan security forces attacked her along with another Sahrawi woman human rights defender, Alrokby Alkhalifa, and her 6-year-old child. The security forces reportedly chased and stopped the transport vehicle they were on, proceeded to break the windshields, and violently arrested Jamila Mojahid. The security forces had attempted to arrest the 6-year-old child, who is also the son of another Sahrawi human rights defender Ali Salem Tamek. Jamila Mojahid’s father, Al-Hussein Mojahid, was arrested later on the same day.
Woman human rights defender Jamila Mojahid has reportedly been repeatedly harassed due to her legitimate work in the promotion of the human rights of the Sahrawi people. There have been several reports of threats, attacks and harassment of Sahrawi women and men human rights defenders, members of AMDH-Laayoune and CODESA, as well as their families, which have been an ongoing effort by the Moroccan security forces to intimidate them and inhibit their human rights work
Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned about the targeted harassment of woman human rights defender Jamila Mojahid and believes that it is solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate human rights work.
