Occupied Aaiun, May 11, 2021 (SPS) - The Moroccan occupation forces kidnapped and tortured a Sahrawi activist, Hasan Dalil, member of the Sahrawi Initiative against Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM) and of the NGO Environmental Protection in Western Sahara, the organization said on Monday.
"The Sahrawi activist was forcibly evicted from the home of the activist and former political detainee, Hasanna Douihi, and transferred to the Moroccan Occupation Security Directorate, where he was subjected to psychological and physical torture," ISACOM clarified, noting that the reason for his arrest may have been for raising the SADR national flag on the roof of his home.
Moroccan occupation forces and intelligence teams subsequently surrounded Douihi's house to prevent human rights activists and Sahrawi media from visiting it.
In a recent joint communication to the Moroccan government, UN human rights experts confirmed "the systematic and widespread violations perpetrated by the Moroccan regime in occupied Western Sahara, pointing to a" hostile environment "for human rights work. Man in this non-autonomous territory.
The victims mentioned in the joint communication are well-known Sahrawi activists from the occupied territory who have submitted human rights complaints to the UN. They are, among others, Nazha El Khalidi, Aminatou Haidar, Mahfouda Bamba Lafgir and Yahya Mohamed Elhafed Iaazza.
Experts expressed concern "about what seems to attest to a lack of security and a hostile environment towards human rights defenders in Morocco and Western Sahara", citing other forms of repression, including acts of torture, prosecution, threats and constant surveillance. SPS
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