Bir Lehlou (liberated territories), March 4, 2013 (SPS) - The Minister of Justice considered that the unjust trial of Gdeim Izik detainees “is just another episode in the series of the gross human rights violations perpetrated by the Moroccan occupying authorities,” calling, in a letter sent Monday to the President of Human Rights Council, for the revoking of the unjust sentences against the Saharawi activists of Gdeim Izik and ensuring the full respect for their fundamental human rights.
Following is a complete read of the letter:
“Dear Sir,
I would like to write to you with a sense of urgency to bring to your knowledge the latest developments concerning the human rights situation in the Sahrawi territories under Moroccan occupation.
As you may be aware, on early 17 February 2013, 24 Sahrawi human rights activists were unjustly convicted by a Moroccan military court in Rabat, which sentenced nine of them to life imprisonment, four to 30 years of prison, five to 25 years and four to 20 years respectively. The human rights activists were detained and tried on account of their participation in the Gdeim Izik Protest Camp in October 2010, where thousands of Sahrawi civilians gathered, to the east of the occupied city of La Aaiun, to protest peacefully against the deteriorating socio-economic and political conditions in which they have been living for over 35 years under Morocco's illegal occupation of their country.
As you may also be aware, despite the peaceful character of the protest which was testified to by international media and independent observers, the Moroccan occupying forces decided to use force to dismantle the camp and disperse its residents in a brutal and indiscriminate manner. The Sahrawi civilians that were violently driven out of the camp were then persecuted by the Moroccan forces ad police in the streets of La Aaiun and the outskirts where police in plain clothes were deployed and Moroccan settlers were incited to engage in intimidating, abducting and lynching Sahrawis and burning their houses and ransacking their properties. In addition to human casualties, hundreds of the Saharawi protestors were detained, including the group of the 24 human rights activists.
The politically motivated and unjust sentences against the Sahrawi human rights activists was fraught with legal irregularities as attested to by the independent and international observers that managed to follow the trial. A host of international human rights organisations and groups have also expressed their deep concern about the proceedings of this unjust trial. On 19 February, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed its concern about the use of a military court to try Sahrawi civilians, as it raised serious problems as far as the equitable, impartial and independent administration of justice was concerned. It also expressed concern about the reports of torture to which the defendants were subjected during their pre-trial detention, considering that for two years, while in custody, the defendants were subjected to constant police interrogations, torture, harassment and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. As they have publicly denounced during the trial, all the testimonies that were attributed to them were completely fabricated and concocted by the Moroccan occupying authorities solely to incriminate them.
Amnesty International, for its part, has also criticised the trial which it considered flawed from the outset. In a statement released on 18 February, it regretted that the Moroccan authorities had ignored calls to try the defendants in an independent, impartial civilian court. Instead, they had opted for a military court where civilians can never receive a fair trial. Moreover, Amnesty International pointed out that it was disturbing that the authorities had also ignored the Sahrawi defendants' allegations of torture and coerced confessions, and underlined that this trial cast a serious doubt on the Moroccan authorities' intention and whether they were more concerned with securing a guilty verdict than justice. Very recently, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has also expressed his concern about the trial of the Sahrawi civilians before a Moroccan military court, whilst indicating that he had received testimonies about torture and ill-treatment, including rape, and deteriorating health conditions of some of the Saharawi detainees due to the prison conditions. In addition, a large number of international, regional and national human rights organisations, political parties, governments and civil society groups have expressed their denunciation of this politically motivated trial, and have urged the Moroccan occupying authorities to annul the unjust sentences against the Sahrawi human rights activists.
In the view of the foregoing, I would like to call upon you to urgently make all the necessary representations towards the Moroccan Government to revoke these politically motivated and unjust sentences against the Sahrawi human rights activists and to ensure that their fundamental human rights are fully respected. This unjust trial is just another episode in the series of the gross human rights violations perpetrated by the Moroccan occupying authorities since the beginning of Morocco's illegal occupation of Western Sahara on 31 October 1975. It is thus a reminder of the urgent need for the establishment of an effective mechanism for monitoring and protecting human rights within the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which unjustifiably remains the only UN peacekeeping operation of its kind that does not include a component for human rights monitoring and protection. I would like therefore to urge you again to do your utmost to ensure the protection of human rights of the Sahrawi population living in the occupied territories pending the decolonisation of Western Sahara in line with the precepts of international legality and the UN and AU relevant resolutions.
Please accept, Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Mr Bah Dih Cheikh,
Minister of Justice and Religious Affairs
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Mr Remigiusz Achilles Henczel,
President of the Human Rights Council,
Geneva, Switzerland. (SPS)
090/089/000