Dublin, 22 December (SPS) - The international organization Front Line Defenders called Wednesday Morocco to immediately release the Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik group, who have been held in arbitrary detention for more than 13 years.
In a statement published on its website, the NOG based in Dublin (Ireland) said it is “deeply concerned by the ongoing imprisonment of Sahrawi human rights defenders who were arbitrarily arrested in November 2010 by the Moroccan authorities during the dismantling of Gdeim Izik camp.”
In this regard, Front Line Defenders “joins the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and numerous human rights organizations in calling for their immediate release.”
On 11 October 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention deemed the imprisonment of a group of Sahrawi activists, who were sentenced over a decade ago by a Moroccan court, as illegal.
The concerns raised by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention mirror those previously articulated by the UN Committee against Torture and various Special Rapporteurs regarding the Gdeim Izik prisoners.
In its opinion, it urged the Moroccan authorities to promptly release the group of detainees, which comprises journalists and human rights defenders, from Western Sahara.
In advocating for the prisoners’ release, the UN Working Group shed light on several serious violations, notably the denial of the prisoners’ right of access to a lawyer, the use of confessions obtained under torture and the lack of impartiality and independence of the court.
These detainees have faced inhuman treatment since their non-violent protests in 2010 in the Gdeim Izik camp. They are more than 20 Sahrawis who were arrested before, during and after the dismantling of the camp on 8 November 2010.