Morocco recruited “thugs” to harass and browbeat Sahrawis outside trial of Gdeim Izik

The Moroccan authorities put iron barricades around the Court where the trial of Gdeim Izik prisoners is taking place, said the Saharawi human rights committee.

Many armoured vehicles surrounded the places where the families of Gdeim Izik prisoners and their sympathizer stay. 

According to the Saharawi human rights committee, the Moroccan authorities covertly hired groups of “thugs” in the court’s surrounding area to harass and to beat up any Sahrawis who voice their solidarity with the Sahrawi prisoners.

The Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik group appeared Monday in front of the Moroccan Court in Salé, Rabat, after their trial was postponed for the second time since their file was referred to the civil court. 

Moreover, the Saharawi community members based in Mauritania, including those of the Martyr Ali Mayara’s sector, organized a platform to express full support and all-out solidarity with the Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik.

“This initiative is part of the ongoing international campaign to support Sahrawi political prisoners and call for their immediate and unconditional release,” according to a press statement.

The Saharawi community also condemned the unfair trial of these political prisoners, launching an appeal “urging all international human rights organizations to exert pressure against Morocco for the immediate release of Saharawi political prisoners.

It also called on the United Nations to duly set up a UN mechanism for the protection of human rights in the occupied part of Western Sahara.