On June 6, 2024, the Moroccan Agadir Criminal Court sentenced Sahrawi students “El Hossein Bourkeba” and “Ayman Yathribi” to 10 years in prison each.
Their arrest came in the context of a feverish campaign targeting Sahrawi students at Moroccan university sites to intimidate them and deter them from conducting activities to raise awareness and educate about the Sahrawi people’s cause within the university space.
The Freedomsun Defenders Organization for the Protection of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders condemns the court’s decision against “El Hossein Bourkeba” and “Ayman Yathribi“
We affirms that their trial lacks the conditions of a fair trial and that these are politically motivated prosecutions unrelated to any legal violation.
We also emphasizes that Moroccan courts legitimize the crimes of the Moroccan occupation committed by its forces in the occupied cities of Western Sahara, southern Morocco, and Moroccan university sites, more than seeking to achieve justice.
The organization reiterates its condemnation of the arrests targeting Sahrawi activists.
We considers these arrests as part of the Moroccan occupation state’s policy aimed at perpetuating the absence of the rule of law in Western Sahara, leading to further deterioration of human rights conditions.
Therefore, the Freedomsun Organization for the Protection of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders calls on the international community to work seriously to curb human rights violations in Western Sahara and to release all Sahrawi detainees in Moroccan prisons.
The organization renews its repeated calls for the United Nations, especially the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to fulfill their legal and ethical duties towards the civilian population in Western Sahara and provide them with international protection, especially in light of the dangerous escalation of crimes by the occupation forces targeting Sahrawi civilians.
From the Executive Office of the Freedomsun Organization for the Protection of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders.
Issued in Western Sahara on June 11, 2024.