Morocco/Western Sahara: Sahrawi human rights defenders under attack

Index Number: MDE 29/008/2005
Date Published: 24 November 2005
Categories: Middle East And North Africa, Morocco

Since May 2005, the territory of Western Sahara has been rocked by a series of demonstrations. In many of them, Sahrawi (Western Saharan) demonstrators have expressed their support for the Polisario Front or called for independence from Morocco. Eight of the activists are currently in detention and awaiting trial. Amnesty International believes that they may be prisoners of conscience. This report focuses on the details of their cases, but also briefly documents the targeting of a wider range of human rights defenders who have been subjected to intimidation by the security forces.