Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Student prisoners
Group Companions of
El Uali
Isabel Lourenço
14th February 2018
1. Introduction
2. Western Sahara Legal Status
3. Background
4. Accusations/Charges, evidence file, convictions
5. Arbitrary detention
6. Tortures
7. Hunger strikes
8. Conditions in Oudaya Prison
9. Appeal process
1. Introduction
My name is Isabel Maria Gonçalves da Silva Tavares Lourenço, I have
Portuguese nationality, and am a member of Fundación Sahara Occidental
and collaborator of www.porunsaharalibre.org.
Since February 2013 I attend the trials of Saharawi Political Prisoners as an
International Observer with accreditation from Fundación Sahara Occidental. In
2015 when I was travelling to attend the trial of two Saharawi journalists that
where illegally detained I was expelled from El Aaiun Airport by force by the
Moroccan authorities without any explanation other that I was "persona non
grata". A few months afterwards I have attended another trial in Agadir, always
under huge pressure and surveillance. In 2016, 2017 and 2018 I continued to
attend trials of Saharawi political prisoners in Agadir and Salé, Rabat and
Marrakesh, as well as issued reports on this matter and follow up with the families
of the detainees the situation of several prisoners. The situation of the group of
Students held in Marrakesh, since 2016, I have been following up through
contacts with several organizations on the ground as well as close relatives, as
well as attending the appeal process in January and February 2018.
These visits gave me an insight, and a very clear perspective of the current
situation in Western Sahara and the general feeling of the population, as well as
the situation of the political prisoners.
It is obvious that the occupation is only possible due to the huge presence of
military, police and auxiliary forces and their brutal tactics, and also due to the
fact that the international community is complicit with the silence about the
occupation and the stalemate in the United Nations Security Council.
For the last six years I have been gathering information and denouncing the
situation of the Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan jails in the occupied
territories as well as in the Kingdom of Morocco. My reports are based on direct
observation during trial and visits, interviews with family members of current
political prisoners, and ex-political prisoners, as well as several international
observers who attend trials of Saharawi political prisoners. In some cases it was
possible to have direct phone contact with Saharawi prisoners.
Arbitrary detention, abductions, ill-treatment and torture, are a reality vastly
documented by numerous national and international NGOs including Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch and present in the reports submitted by
Mr. Christopher Ross, special envoy of the Secretary General the United Nations
and the 2013 report of special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez . Mr. Méndez reaffirmed
in a press conference,1 on the 18th October 2016, in the UN headquarters in
New York , in answer to the question of InnerCityPress about torture of Saharawi
Political Prisoners, that it is a common practice in Morocco and his request for a
follow-up visit to Morocco and Western Sahara was unsuccessful.
Neither the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, which Morocco ratified on 14 June 1993 nor the
1
http://webtv.un.org/media/watch/jens-modvig-committee-against-torture-malcolm-evans-subcommittee-on-prevention-
of-torture-and-juan-mendez-un-special-rapporteur-on-torture-press-conference-18-october-2016/5175282306001
Saharawi citizens are abducted from their homeland by the occupying forces
and transferred to prisons in the Kingdom of Morocco, the legal procedures and
international requirements were not observed with the over 50 Saharawi political
prisoners that are currently in Moroccan jails, their trials were faulty, with no
evidences produced other than confessions obtained under torture. Currently
almost all Saharawi political prisoners are detained in the Kingdom of Morocco,
hundreds and thousands km from their homeland.
The present Information is far from exhaustive and gives only a partial view of the
continues and grave ill treatment the Saharawi Students, detained in Oudaya
Marrakesh were subjected to, as well as, the violations committed by the
Moroccan authorities in this case. The information gathered were verified with
CODAPSO, Mr. Sidi Haiba Habibi of the Saharawi League for the Defence of
Political Prisoners, Mr. Sidi Mohamed Balla of AFRAPEDESA, the Student
associations and family members, Mrs. Cristina Martinez Benítez de Lugo,
observer at the trial session of the 9th of June and Mr. Emilio García, member of
SOGAPS and accredited as International Observer on the session of 13th of June
2017 as well information of the families of the detainees in direct contact during
my stay in Marrakesh during the appeal process in January and February 2018.
2
UN General Assembly, 1966, Resolution 2229 (XXI).
3
ICJ Reports, 1975, p. 68, para. 162.
4
Common Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
5
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text&docid=186489&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir&occ=first&
part=1&cid=529355
3. Background
In the occupied territories of Western Sahara there are no higher education
institutions of any kind except one private school "Université Internationale à
Lâayoune". Those young people who wish to continue their studies are forced to
go to Universities and Institutes in the Moroccan Kingdom. This forced
displacement has from start a bias effect since the families have to gathered
the economical means to send their children to at least 620km to Agadir the
nearest University, which has a nucleus in Guelmin with only few courses.
The majority of the Saharawi University Students are therefore in Agadir and
Marrakesh. Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Pharmacy and aeronautics are
courses that the Saharawi Students are prevented from pursuing, since they are
considered key to national security. There is no official ban since the Moroccan
Kingdom claims that Saharawi are Moroccan, but obstacles are put in place to
prevent Saharawi Students to pursue these careers.
Saharawi Students are organized having groups inside each Campus to help
The segregation of the Saharawi students is also evident in the fact that their
scholarship is identical to the Moroccan students who study in their own cities,
where they live, whilst the Saharawi have forcefully to displace themselves,
which represents a completely different economical effort.
After this attack the Saharawi students in Marrakesh and Agadir discussed and
analysed the situation, and the escalation of racism and harassment against
them by Moroccan students.
The group that had injured Lazar Yahia enjoyed impunity and the Moroccan
authorities did not act to punish the act nor prevent future attacks. In light of this
the Saharawi students decided to make a non-violent sitting protest demanding
justice and denouncing the situation, in the campus of Marrakesh university on
the 23rd January 2016.
During the sitting protest several groups of Moroccan students arrived and
started a confrontation with the protesters, a fight broke out between the two
In the aftermath over a dozen Saharawi Students and activists were detained in
the first trimester of 2016 and the following months.
The students denounced that their detention was mainly due to their political
beliefs towards the cause of Western Sahara. They were arrested and suffered
torture and ill treatment on the hands of the Moroccan police. In the absence
of a serious investigation and a fair trial, as well as the respect for their status as
political prisoners, they decided to enter several hunger strikes during their
detainment.
The trial of theses students was postponed twelve times. The majority was in
prison for 501 days without trial, which is far more than allowed by Moroccan
law.
5. Arbitrary detention
According to the information given by the detainees none of them were shown
any warrant for their detention when they were taken by the police nor any
warrant to enter their residences in the cases they were detained inside their
living quarters.
They accused were not informed about their rights when detained.
6. Tortures
The first group of 11 students detained in January 2016, denounced that they
were tortured during18 days, during which the police redacted the minutes that
are the base of this case, obtained false confessions and forced the signature of
the documents.
The remaining prisoners were tortured for the time span needed for them to sign
the minutes that were already redacted based on the minutes of the first group.
The tortures used were: grilled chicken; beating with batons, beating of the foot
soles, psychological torture and threats of sodomy and rape, sleep deprivation,
starvation, beatings with fists and boots in the whole body, including the head.
7. Hunger strikes
The El Uali group made 5 hunger strikes during their detention so far. One of the
strikes lasted for over 40 days. The Students demanded medical attention,
improvement of their detention conditions in jail, treatment according to their
status as political prisoners, separation from the criminal offense inmates and
immediate release since they proclaim themselves innocent of all charges.
Aziz Aluahidi, who has a degree, made an individual hunger strike that lasted for
9. Appeal process
The appeal process begun on the 12th of December 2017 being postponed to
the 16th of January 2018.
On the 16th January 2018, 5 international observers (Isabel Lourenço and Joana
Ramos from Portugal, Michele Joly from France, Ana Sebastian and Pablo
Jimenez from Spain) attend the session. The students entered the court room
chanting slogans for self determination of Western Sahara and declared their
solidarity with the prisoners of the Gdeim Izik group.
The session was postponed to the 13th of February since 4 of the accused where
in Agadir for the university exams. No defence lawyer was present.
For over two hours the families and members of Saharawi Human Rights
Associations as well as fellow students protested in front of the Court of Appeal
of Marrakesh.
The Demonstration was filmed and photographed and heavily guarded by
police officers in uniform and in plain clothes.
Isabel Lourenço
Ahmed Abba Ali, detention No. 4327, student in Agadir, detained in Marrakesh,
responsible of contacts with Moroccan students and student groups born in
1992 in Tantan, arrested 24/01/2016; sentenced to 3 years
Ali Shargui, detention No. 4335, first year student in Agadir, detained in
Marrakesh, born in 1994 in Assa, arrested on 24/01/2016; sentenced to 3 years
Ibrahim Almasih detention No. 4329, student in Agadir, born in Assa in 1993,
arrested on 24/01/2016 in Marrakesh; sentenced to 3 years
Salek Baber, detention No. 4332, student in Agadir, born in 1993 in Tantan,
spokesperson of the first year Saharawi Students in Agadir, arrested on
24/01/2016 in Marrakesh; sentenced to 3 years
Mustafa Burkah, detention No. 4326, student in Agadir, born in Tantan in 1989,
arrested on 24/01/2016 in Marrakesh, sentenced to 3 years
Aziz Aluahidi, detention No. 4400, student in Agadir, member of the student
association of Agadir, born in 1989 in Emhamid Elghezlan, arrested on
06/02/2016; sentenced to 10 years
Omar Beijni, student in Marrakesh detention No. 4661, born in 1991 in Guelmin,
arrested in El Aaiun 15/03/2016; sentenced to 3 years
Nasser Amenkour, detention No. is not a student, he was in one of the student
houses when he was arrested in El kantouai in Marrakesh, 24/01/2016 ,
sentenced to 3 years
Laghdaf Lakan - detention no. , born 1993 Zak, arrested in 06/2017 in bus station
in Marrakech, student in Marrakesh - released in 20th October 2017
Lawyers:
In first instance: