A Moroccan Appeals Court sentenced 20-year-old Sahrawi activist Mohamed Jagag to one year in jail on 4 February 2014 for participating in a peaceful protest in the city of Asa in Southern Morocco.
A Moroccan Appeals Court sentenced 20-year-old Sahrawi activist Mohamed Jagag to one year in jail on 4 February 2014. The decision was condemned by the Arab Network for Human Rights Information on 11 February.
On 19 October 2013, security forces detained the activist in the city of Asa in Southern Morocco as a result of his participation in peaceful demonstrations denouncing an earlier attack by Moroccan forces on the Tizimi camp near the city. Jagag was interrogated at the Asa police station before being sent to the Public Prosecutor and the examining magistrate at the appeals court in Agadir on 22 October. The magistrate decided to jail him pending the investigation.
Meanwhile, on 4 February, Moroccan police officers attacked and insulted two young Sahrawi men, Mustafa Al Dawiya and Al-Bashir Buamoud, in the Western Sahara. They were accompanying two observers from the Swedish Association of Solidarity with Sahrawi people to examine the human rights situation. The two young men were banned by the police from accompanying the observers any further.
“The ruling issued by the Moroccan court against the activists is another incident in a series of prosecutions of activists and opinion makers by Moroccan authorities,” stated ANHRI. “It also points to the increasing use of security and suppressive solutions in recent months. Security forces are allowed free reign in their dealings with political and human rights activists, and their handling of peaceful demonstrations. The state is prosecuting journalists and opinion makers which makes Morocco a country based on repression and the silencing of its critics.”
ANHRI calls upon Moroccan authorities to put a stop to the torturing of activists and opponents with the aim of reprisal. It also calls for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience.
