AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: MDE 29/006/2008 (Public)
Date: 31 March 2008
Morocco / Western Sahara:
Sahrawi student may be prisoner of conscience
Amnesty International is concerned about the decision by a Moroccan appeal
court at the end of last week to maintain a prison sentence, albeit a
reduced one, against Said Bellal, a 30-year-old Sahrawi student. The
organization believes that he may be imprisoned solely for his activities
in
promoting the right to self-determination for the people of Western
Sahara.
On 27 March 2008, the Appeal Court in Rabat, the capital of Morocco,
reduced
an earlier prison sentence of eight months to four months. The charges
related to his participation in a sit-in by Sahrawi students in May 2007.
Said Bellal has been in detention since his arrest on 26 December 2007 and
was on hunger strike from 20 February 2008 until yesterday to protest,
among
other issues, at his conditions of detention.
Said Bellal is a member of the Sahrawi Committee for Self-Determination in
Western Sahara and of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human
Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State, a non-governmental
organization which monitors the human rights situation in the territory of
Western Sahara. On 17 January 2008, he was found guilty by the Court of
First Instance in Rabat of the offences of rebellion by more than two
persons against representatives of the public authorities and causing
material damage to public facilities, on the basis of articles 300, 302
and
595 of the Moroccan Penal Code. He was acquitted of violent acts against
an
agent of the public authorities.
The charges related to a sit-in organized by Sahrawi students on 17 May
2007
in front of the gates of a halls of residence for students of Rabat
University to express solidarity with other Sahrawi students arrested
after
demonstrations in other universities in the country and to demand
self-determination for the people of Western Sahara, which was annexed by
Morocco in 1975. The sit-in began during the day and was to continue
through
the night, with the students sleeping outside at the venue of their
protest.
The police say that the students refused to disperse when ordered to do so
and that they were armed with stones and Molotov cocktails. The students,
on
the other hand, maintain that the sit-in was peaceful and that
plain-clothes
security officers woke them up at 4am on 18 May, before beaten them with
truncheons and violently dispersing them. Nine students were arrested,
tried
and sentenced to up to eight months' imprisonment in June 2007 on charges
similar to those brought against Said Bellal. They have all since been
released after serving their sentences.
In Said Bellal's first trial, the Court of First Instance refused the
right
of the defence to call witnesses, including two students, among the nine
mentioned above, whose police interrogation re****ts were used as evidence
against him. The students allege that they were beaten, kicked and
threatened with rape during their interrogation, which included
questioning
about the role of Said Bellal in the sit-in, and that they were coerced
into
signing their statements. On 27 March 2008, the Appeal Court agreed to
hear
the evidence of these two students. To Amnesty International's knowledge,
no
investigation was ever conducted into the students' complaints of torture
or
other ill-treatment whilst in police custody, in breach of Morocco's
obligations under international law.
Other evidence used against Said Bellal included the statement of a
passer-by who was re****tedly attacked on the night of 17-18 May near where
the sit-in took place and the statement of the director of the halls of
residence of Rabat University, who said that stones and bottles filled
with
gas were found on the campus and that bells were damaged. While both
witnesses were called at the students' trial in May 2007, only their
written
statements were submitted at Said Bellal's trial, meaning that he was
unable
to have their testimonies cross-examined. During the earlier trial of the
nine students, the passer-by was not in a position to identify his
attackers
and the halls of residence director was unable to determine the identity
of
the owners of the weapons found on the campus. The nine students and Said
Bellal denied carrying weapons and insisted that their sit-in was entirely
peaceful.
Since 2005, over a dozen members of Sahrawi human rights groups have been
charged with violent conduct after being arrested in the context of
demonstrations demanding self-determination in Western Sahara. Amnesty
International is concerned that they appear to have been targeted because
of
their human rights activities and for peacefully exercising their right to
freedom of expression. The Moroccan authorities have stated that such
persons are imprisoned for their involvement in criminal acts, not for
their
views. Amnesty International is concerned that their trials have often
failed to meet international fair trial standards. For example, evidence
has
been tainted with unexamined claims of torture or other ill-treatment, and
defendants have often not been permitted to call defence witnesses or to
examine prosecution witnesses, as in the case of the trial of Said Bellal.
ENDS./
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in
London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or visit our website at
http://www.amnesty.org
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See also:
- US State department: Country Re****ts on Human Rights Practices - 2007,
Western Sahara, Mar 12, 2008
- CODESA: Moroccan authorities reduce sentence, release police agents, Mar
7, 2008
- Morocco urged to probe beating of rights activists, Reuters, Dec 28 2007
- ASVDH: Daha Rahmouni's testimony to the UN Human Rights Council in
Geneva,
Sep 27. 2007
- Moroccan police attack Saharawi students following week of anti-Saharawi
violence, The Associated Press/ International Herald Tribune, May 14, 2007
- Students beaten by Moroccan police [photos], Norwegian Sup****t Committee
for Western Sahara, 13. May 2007
- Moroccan police in Western Sahara attack demonstrators, human rights
group
says, The Associated Press - The International Herald Tribune, Friday, May
11, 2007
- THE WORST OF THE WORST. THE WORLD'S MOST REPRESSIVE SOCIETIES 2007,
Morocco & Western Sahara chapter, Freedom House, May 10, 2007
- Five years imprisonment for El Ouali, Norwegian Sup****t Committee for
Western Sahara, 19. April 2007
- Moroccan police 'beat human rights activist' in Western Sahara,
International Herald Tribune, The Associated Press, April 18, 2007
- Today, El Ouali Amidane will probably be sentenced for his opinions,
Verdensmagasinet X, Norway, 17. April 2007, Sahara Update
_____________________________________________
Forwarded by:
Norwegian Sup****t Committee for Western Sahara
*** Referendum now! ***
www.vest-sahara.no
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update
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