An international organization called on the Moroccan authorities to investigate accusations by its security forces of assaulting women activists in Western Sahara, which is disputed with the Polisario Front, in “violations” that Sahrawis see as recurring.
Amnesty International said that Moroccan security forces are accused of “assaulting” five women activists who support the Polisario Front, which calls for independence for Western Sahara.
not the first
“Amnesty International’s statement is not the first of its kind,” said Sahrawi activist, Mohamed Mayara, noting in an interview with Al-Hurra that the statement and other reports of the organization provide “material evidence of Morocco’s abuses.”
The organization says that the security forces targeted Zainab Babi, Ambarka Al-Hafidi, Fatima Al-Hafidi, Umm Al-Muminin Al-Kharashi, and their victory (Our Need) Babi after their participation in peaceful protests in support of the right to self-determination in Western Sahara.
She added that this happened “after they publicly expressed their support for Sultana Khia, a prominent Sahrawi activist” in the city of Boujdour in mid-April.
Mohamed Salem Abdel-Fattah, head of the Saharawi Observatory for Media and Human Rights, an organization that includes opponents of the Polisario, refuses, according to him, to link what the organization describes as “attacks” to Moroccan security policy.
The head of the Human Rights Watch added, in an interview with Al-Hurra website, that the isolated “attacks” that Amnesty is talking about are “related to managing tensions in the public space, as a result of some imbalances related to non-respect of the rules of peaceful demonstration, such as protesting without a permit, obstructing traffic and occupying public domain to other abuses that some protesters might commit.
Amnesty official, Amna Guellali, urged “the Moroccan authorities to end the harassment and violence against Sahrawi women activists, and to launch prompt and impartial investigations into all allegations of torture and cruel treatment.”
It was not immediately possible to obtain a comment from the Moroccan authorities.
Refusal to “political” employment
In his interview with Al-Hurra, the desert activist, Mohamed Mayara, expresses his regret that the organization, in turn, is “a victim of Moroccan policies, as it has been prohibited from working in desert lands for years.”
Mayara continues, “There are condemnations of Morocco by many international organizations, and by international bodies.”
The organization said that “while the five activists were on the streets of Boujdour, most likely heading towards Sultana Khia’s house to join peaceful protests on the roof of her house, they were separately attacked by groups of Moroccan security men.”
Activist Mayara told Al-Hurra that activist Mahfuzah Al-Faqir warned against “a Moroccan escalation and targeting of Sahrawi women activists through interrogation and mistreatment of anyone who tries to break the siege on activist Sultana Khayya, who has been under house arrest for two years.”
Amnesty International also stated that Sahrawi activist Sultana Khia “and her family have been under house arrest since November 2020”.
In his interview with Al-Hurra TV website, Abdel-Fattah believes that “despite these allegations of attacks by members of public security, what is noticeable is the refusal of some cases to deal with the grievance and redress mechanisms guaranteed by human rights or judicial institutions.”
Salem Abdel-Fattah refuses to use the case politically, noting that with regard to “the case of activist Sultana Khia, for example, she refused to receive more than 17 visits to the committees of the National Council for Human Rights, and also refused to respond to the summons of the prosecution working to investigate allegations of assault.”
And the National Council for Human Rights, an official body, had previously stated in February that a committee affiliated with it had made a total of 17 attempts to visit the activist “to listen to her and know the content and forms of the allegations, but all of her attempts were rejected” by Sultana Khayya.
He added that “the Public Prosecution opened an investigation” and summoned the Sahrawi activist to be heard, but it “rejected” the invitation.
However, the Saharawi activist, Mayara, believes that Morocco remains protected by some international forces, whose silence encourages not condemning Morocco and not holding those responsible for these “violations” accountable.
A conflict has been going on for decades between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front over Western Sahara, of which the kingdom controls about 80 percent of its area and proposes granting it autonomy under its sovereignty as the only solution to the conflict.
Meanwhile, the Polisario Front demands a referendum for self-determination under the supervision of the United Nations.