MujeresConectandoLuchas

Amnesty International is concerned by reports that Moroccan security
officials forcibly removed six young Sahrawis from Agadir’s Al Massira
airport on 6 August 2009 and then assaulted them, after refusing them
permission to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) on 5 August .

The organization is calling on the authorities to launch an immediate
investigation into the beatings and forced removal of the six, who include
three young women, and to explain why they were refused permission to travel
to the UK to participate in a programme intended to foster reconciliation
between young people from different backgrounds.

The six are reported to have been assaulted by officials at three different
locations - outside Agadir’s Al Massira airport, at a border police station
near Laayoune, and again at the Laayoune home of one of the six.

Amnesty International wrote to Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa on 6 August
to express concern that the six Sahrawis from Western Sahara and another
group of young people from Morocco had both been prevented from travelling
for what appear to be politically-motivated reasons. In its letter, Amnesty
International drew attention to Morocco’s obligation, under Article 12 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to respect
the right of individuals to leave a country, including their own, and called
on the government to lift the ban and allow the two groups to travel to the
UK immediately and without further impediment.

The six Sahrawi – named as Mimouna Amidan, Mohamed Da’noun, Nguia ElHaouasi,
Mohamed Fadel El’asri, Choummad Razouk and Hayat Rguibi, whose ages range
between 17 and 24 years - are reported to have been forcibly removed from Al
Massira airport shortly after 5 pm on 6 August. They were scheduled to
travel to London on 5 August to take part in the Youths Talk Together about
Western Sahara, a programme organized by Talk Together, a UK-based
non-profit initiative. The programme aimed to bring together young people
from Morocco and Western Sahara, the Tindouf camps in Algeria, Norway and
the UK for a period of two weeks (5-19 August 2009) to discuss issues
affecting their daily lives and political concerns .

The six young Sahrawis were scheduled to take Royal Air Maroc flight AT422 from
Agadir to Casablanca at 11:30 am on 5 August in order to travel on to London
later that afternoon. However, when they arrived at the departures hall of
Agadir Al Massira airport, they were informed by plain-clothed security
officials that they were not permitted to travel. The officials did not
disclose the reason or legal basis for this prohibition, stating simply that
they were acting “under instructions from above”, but castigated the
students as “separatists and members of the Polisario”. The six students
were all in possession of valid travel documents and visas for the UK.

The six Sahrawis remained at the airport and went on hunger strike to
protest the authorities’ action but after about 30 hours were forcibly
removed by a combined force of security officials said to have included
members of the police, the Royal Gendarmerie and the Auxiliary Forces. After
being escorted from the airport, the students were beaten, had their
belongings including their mobile phones temporarily confiscated, and were
forced into a vehicle and driven to Laayoune, about 350 kilometres south of
Agadir. The vehicle was reportedly accompanied by cars containing members of
the Royale Gendarmerie. On the way, the six were taken to a border police
station and questioned, including about the Youths Talk Together about
Western Sahara programme and their contacts with international
organizations, and are said to have been beaten and insulted. They were then
beaten again by security officials when they arrived at the home of Mimouna
Amidan at about 3:30 am on 7 August, where they were greeted by family
members who carried flags of the Polisario Front and chanted slogans in
favour of the independence of Western Sahara. Some of their relatives are
also reported to have been assaulted. Mohamed Fadel El’asri and others
sustained minor injuries as a result and security officials are now reported
to be staking out the home of Mimouna Amidan.

Background

Seven young Moroccans and their group leader, who were due to attend the
same programme in the UK, were prevented by Moroccan security authorities
from taking the August 5 Air Arabia flight 3O491 from Casablanca to
Stansted, UK, also without being informed of the reason or legal grounds for
the authorities’ action.

Amnesty International is concerned that the Moroccan authorities’ refusal to
allow these two groups of young people from travelling abroad to take part
in the Youths Talk Together about Western Sahara programme is part of a
wider pattern of curbs imposed by the Moroccan authorities on the legitimate
exercise of freedom of expression concerning issues that they deem
politically-sensitive, such as the role and status of the monarchy, national
security and the status of Western Sahara. Human rights defenders,
journalists, lawyers and others continue to face intimidation and even
prosecution when they transcend certain “red lines”, which include
expressing views in favour of the independence of Western Sahara.  On
numerous occasions, Amnesty International has called on the Moroccan
authorities to uphold their obligations under Article 9 of the Moroccan
Constitution and Article 19 of ICCPR, which guarantee the right to freedom
of expression.