MEPs Urge Parliament To Take Immediate Action Against Morocco

MEPs called on the European Parliament to take immediate and decisive measures against Morocco to ensure an end to the repression against Sahrawi human rights defenders and respect for their fundamental freedoms.

The EP intergroup “Peace for the Sahrawi People” expressed in a statement, Friday, its solidarity with Sahrawi human rights defenders and political activists who are facing severe attack and repression since the end of the ceasefire, calling on the European Union and member states to respond urgently to their calls and the dangerous situation as a result of the continuous crackdown.

The intergroup reiterated its deep concern over the repeated attacks and house arrest imposed on prominent Sahrawi human rights defender Sultana Sayed Ibrahim Al-Abed, who was previously attacked in 2007 during a protest in which she lost an eye.

The parliamentary intergroup referred to the continuous arrest campaigns, the latest of which was the case of Sahrawi activists Ghali Hamdi Albou and Mohamed Nafeh Othman Suleiman who were arrested without an arrest warrant in the city of Laayoune and detained for 3 days before they were transferred to Ait Melloul prison in the Moroccan city of Agadir pending the trial.

It also expressed its solidarity with the journalist and human rights defender Mohamed Lamine Hadi, a member of the Gdim Izik group, who suffers from a deterioration of health condition due to the open hunger strike he launched on January 13 to denounce the ill-treatment he was subjected to in Taflit 2 prison and to demand respect for his basic rights such as medical care, nutrition and ending the solitary detention where he was isolated since three years.