Geneva, March 2, 2024 (SPS) - Sahrawi human rights activists and experts highlighted Friday the Moroccan policy of revenge against Sahrawi activists and political prisoners, amidst escalating tensions and the closure of the territory to international human rights organizations and the press.
This came during a coference held at the headquarters of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, under the title "Human Rights in Western Sahara." The conference provided an opportunity for participants to shed light on the human rights situation in the occupied Sahrawi territories in the context of Moroccan escalation and the closure of the territory to international human rights organizations, the press, and United Nations mechanisms since 2014.
In this regard, the former abductee and Sahrawi human rights defender, Mrs. Galia Abdallah Djimi, pointed out "the issue of revenge pursued by the Moroccan occupation against human rights activists and their families, due to their efforts in documenting grave human rights violations committed by security forces against innocent Sahrawi civilians."
Furthermore, the activist and member of the Executive Office of the Sahrawi Prisoners Protection Association in Moroccan prisons, Hassana Moulay Badi, addressed "the policy of revenge and collective punishment systematically carried out by the Moroccan authorities against Sahrawi political prisoners and their families," as well as "the rejection of implementing decisions issued by United Nations bodies, such as the Committee against Torture and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which demanded the immediate release of Sahrawi political prisoners from the Gdeim Izik group."