Morocco: Rights Groups Condemn ‘Abusive’ Sentences Against Four Sahrawi Students
Human rights organizations have denounced recent court rulings handed down by Moroccan authorities against four Sahrawi students, describing the verdicts as “illegal” and “punitive.”
The Committee for the Defense of Sahrawi Civilians, part of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA), said in a statement that the sentences issued last Wednesday against the four students reflected a “punitive logic” and a “repressive policy aimed at silencing free voices defending the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination within Moroccan universities.”
CODESA called on the international community and UN mechanisms to intervene to ensure the protection of imprisoned students and other Sahrawi political detainees, urging their “unconditional release.” The organization emphasized that the recent imprisonment of the students was a direct result of their political engagement.
The statement also stressed the peaceful nature of the students’ actions, noting that they had merely expressed their support for political prisoners and for the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and independence.
CODESA renewed its call for the release of all Sahrawi detainees and an end to “all forms of prosecution and harassment” targeting students and activists.
Meanwhile, the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH) also demanded the students’ release, arguing that the verdicts were part of a “systematic and ongoing policy of repression.”
In a separate statement, the association’s executive bureau urged human rights organizations worldwide to act swiftly to protect Sahrawi activists from what it described as “methodical repression by the Moroccan occupation authorities.” It warned that the targeting of Sahrawi students in Moroccan universities formed part of a broader effort to deny the Sahrawi people their fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and other human rights guaranteed under international law.
