AFAPREDESA
The Association for the Families of Saharawi Prisoners and the Disappeared
A Report on the Trials of April 17th, 2007 in El Ayun, Western Sahara
The trials of the Sahrawi human rights activists and the Sahrawi political
prisoners in the Court of Appeal in El Ayun
was characterized mainly by the delay of several cases, the presence of some
foreign observers, members of The High Council
of Spanish Lawyers and a group of Sahrawi lawyers, but especially by the sentence
of hard unfair verdicts ranging from a
year and a half and five years imprisonment.
Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA)
On April 17th,at about 12:00, the discussion of the following cases started:
The first case: included the Sahrawi political prisoner Abdesalam
Elloumadi,
who was sentenced to a year and a half
imprisonment in the first instance.
The second case: included the Sahrawi political prisoners Abdesalam Qassem
Faraji Daidda, Sidi Mohamed Salem Bahaha and
Mohamed Mouloud Elhajjaj Mustapha who were sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.
The third case: included the Sahrawi political prisoners Zougham
Ghali Mohamed Bahaha Elhoussein, Moulay Chaikh Moulay
Daddah and Belyazid Moulay Omar Mouhamed Lamine who were sentenced to 3 years
imprisonment.
The fourth case: included the Sahrawi political prisoner Banga
Chaikh who was
released on March 20th, 2007 after spending
5 months in prison, the period he was sentenced to in the first instance as a
minor. Chaikh didn't attend the trial as he
hadn't received the invitation.
The detainees were chanting slogans in favour of the Western Sahara independence,
which resulted in expelling some of
them out of the court by the president of the hearing. The defense asked the
president to put off the discussion of these
cases until May 15th, 2007 in order to look into them carefully.
The other cases were discussed for more than four hours nonstop. These include:
The first case: included the human rights activist and member of the The CODESA,
Le Collectif des Defenseurs Sahraouis
des droits de l'Homme , Ettarrouzi Yahdih, who was abducted in Tantan on September
15th, 2006 by a group of Moroccan police
agents in civil clothes in a big car, and who was interrogated and tortured in
the Judicial Police center in El Ayun. He
was forced to sign a false prearranged proceeding to condemn
him.
He entered the court holding the victory sign and chanting slogans such as " No
alternative to self-determination".
After the formal installments that the defense lawyers presented arguing that
there was no flagrante delicto…………and the
families were not informed of their sons' abduction, he greeted the Sahrawi audience,
the defenders of human rights and the
foreign observers who endured the traveling hard conditions in order to observe
the political trials of the Sahrawi
political prisoners, especially since May 21st, 2005. He denied all the accusations
against him and clarified that his
relationships with the human rights activists mentioned in the proceedings is
based on his activities of unveiling the
human rights violations in the Western Sahara to the international and Moroccan
organizations and associations. He added
that his arrest was a result of his work and political opinion on the Western
Sahara issue without denying his active
participation in several demonstrations and protest sit-ins organized in solidarity
with the political prisoners' families.
He explained his abduction conditions, his torture and the rape threat he was
subject to. He was several times interrupted,
denied the right to continue his speech and finally expelled out of the room.
He was later on brought in in response to
the defense appeal.
The second case: included the Sahrawi political prisoner Bachri Ben Taleb and
the human rights activist and member of the
CODESA, Elouali Amidane, who was arrested on November 12th, 2006 by more than
40 police agents that were encircling his
families' house. Elouali was released with a group of human rights activists
and political prisoners on March 26th, 2006.
He entered the court chanting pro-independence slogans, denied all his accusations,
confirming that as soon as he was
released, he was abducted, tortured and thrown in a remote area. He was asked
to work as a spy with the Moroccan
authorities, his clothes taken off and threatened by rape. Together with other
political prisoners, he went on a hunger
strike for more than three weeks protesting against the torture they were subject
to in the Black Jail in El Ayun on January
19th, 2007.
The Sahrawi political prisoner Bachri Ben Taleb, arrested on December 21st, 2006
in El Ayun, Western Sahara, entered
the court chanting pro-Polisario slogans. In obvious weak health conditions,
he asked the president of the court to give
him the chance to defend himself. He denied all the accusations he was said to
be guilty of, confirming that his arrest was
because of his political opinions on the Western Sahara issue.
After the discussions, the Moroccan court sentenced:
- Yahdih Ettarrouzi to 1 year and a half imprisonment.
- Elouali Amidane and Bachri Ben Taleb to 5 years imprisonment each.
It is worth-mentioning here that the court was completely controlled
by the Moroccan police agents- 10 of them were
in front of the court gate- who banned the human rights activists and other
Sahrawi citizens from attending the trials. One
of the activists banned was the prominent human rights defender, Aminatou Haidar
who was deprived from entering the court
by the torturer Ichi Aboulhassan who had beaten her in public in Smara street
in El Ayun. El Arbi Massoud, a human rights
activist and ex-political prisoner was also forbidden to get in. Minatou Amidane,
the sister of Elouali Amidane was subject
to harassment and was also denied to attend her brother's trial. Ezzaibour
Hamadi, and Mohamed Tahlil, the ex-political
prisoner were arrested for some hours and thrown in remote areas outside the
city after being savagely beaten.