Gienbra, August 29, 2018 (SPS) - The Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the United Nations has asked Morocco for the immediate release of Saharawi journalist Mohamed Bambari, member of the Saharawi journalist group Equipe Media, which reported on violations of rights Humans and the struggle for self-determination of the Saharawi people in the occupied city of Dakhla.
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the United Nations considers that this journalist detained since August 26, 2015 should receive the corresponding medical treatment.
In recent years, several international human rights organizations have expressed concern over the serious situation of human rights in occupied Western Sahara and, in particular, the repression against journalists such as Mohamed Bambari and Salah Lebsir, who have been harshly sentenced for false accusations.
Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, has said that the Working Group has concluded that Morocco imprisoned Bambari for daring to exercise its right to freedom of expression and association and that there are many more like him in Western Sahara.
For her part, Maran Turner, Executive Director of Freedom Now, the Bambari detention was arbitrary and illegal and indicates how Morocco silences the freedom of expression in Western Sahara and that, as part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Morocco must immediately comply with the decision of the UN and liberate Bambari. SPS
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