Morocco expels Sahrawi activists renewing human rights concerns

Morocco could face renewed international scrutiny for its continuing onslaught on freedom of expression and assembly, following the Kingdom’s recent expulsion of peaceful activists.

Twelve activists of French and Spanish descent were blocked at Tangier Med on May 31 after arriving by ferry from Algeciras, Spain, reports Yabiladi. They had planned to march peacefully from Paris to Kenitra to demand the release of Sahrawi political prisoners, most prominently Naâma Asfari, imprisoned since 2010.

Asfari was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his alleged involvement in the deaths of Moroccan policemen during the forced dismantling of the Gdeim Izik protest camp: a tent city set up by activists to protest Sahrawi marginalization under Moroccan rule of the Western Sahara.

The protest was forcibly broken up by police, resulting in the murder of up to 36 Sahrawis and 11 officers.

One Sahrawi woman activist told Al-Jazeera: “I was very badly attacked. They smashed my teeth to pieces, and I had to get them reconstructed… The police came to the protest out of their uniforms and beat us with clubs.”

Fifteen years on, Claude Mangin, Asfari’s wife and long-time advocate, organized a march from France to Morocco as part of a broader campaign to spotlight the Kingdom’s alleged continued human rights abuses in Western Sahara and to demand the release of Asfari, along with other Sahrawi political prisoners.

Several international rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called the Gdeim Izik trials a “stain” on justice, noting that the convictions lacked substantial evidence and “leaned heavily on tainted confessions” extracted through torture. Moroccan authorities, however, have repeatedly affirmed that the trial respected “international standards of fairness.”

The protest was seen as a “separatist action” and an “unacceptable political provocation and an attack on national sovereignty” according to FesNews, reporting that some activists displayed flags linked to the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi independence group, and chanted separatist slogans.

The FesNews reports affirms that the expulsion was carried out “in compliance with administrative procedures, and no major incidents were reported.”

However, others see it as part of Rabat’s reflex to silence dissent. Spain’s Sumar party, a member of the ruling coalition led by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, has demanded clarification on Morocco’s decision to block the march, reports Yabiladi on June 6.

Antonio Maíllo, the party coordinator, affirmed Sumar’s commitment to “defending the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination,” emphasizing that while the government has focused on the Palestinian cause, “consistent support for the Sahrawi cause is equally vital,” echoing the Polisario’s assertions that Western Sahara is “Africa’s Last Colony.”

Yabiladi/ Maghrebi