Moroccan Occupation Expels US and Portuguese Human Rights Activists from Occupied El Aaiun
Moroccan occupation authorities expelled two human rights activists from the United States and Portugal on Sunday upon their arrival in the occupied city of El Aaiun, according to consistent Sahrawi sources.
The two activists, members of the Washington-based “International Nonviolence Organization,” were scheduled to meet with former Sahrawi political prisoner Mahfouda Bamba Lefkir and other activists. On Friday and Saturday, during a visit to the occupied city of Dakhla, they had managed to meet with human rights defenders and journalists, gathering testimonies on the daily suffering of the Sahrawi people. They briefly evaded the watch of Moroccan authorities, who had initially mistaken them for tourists.
These meetings shed further light on the plight of Sahrawi civilian prisoners held in Moroccan jails, including the abuses and violations they endure. The expulsion of the two activists once again highlights Morocco’s systematic policy of media blackout aimed at preventing the world from learning about the grave situation in the occupied Sahrawi territories.
