By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

NEW YORK CITY, United States – Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that Moroccan authorities closed its investigation into police abuse allegations made by two human rights activists.  On May 5, the two activists were informed by police that the prosecutor at the El-Ayoun Court of Appeals had closed the investigation into their complaints for “lack of evidence.”

In January 2008, Dahha Rahmouni and Brahim al-Ansari, two Sahrawi human rights activists, filedcomplaints to the office of the prosecutor at the El-Ayoun Court of Appeals.  The complaints alleged that on December 14, 2007, police in the city of El-Ayoun, in the Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, arbitrarily arrested them.  While in custody, the men claim that they were beaten and forced to sign a statement that they were not permitted to read.  Rahmouni and Ansari were released without charges on December 16.

“A real, impartial investigation would have included testimony from both the police officers accused of abuse and the rights advocates making the allegations…Instead, Moroccan authorities chose to hear only one side, showing they’re not impartial,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Whitson said that HRW welcomed dialogue with authorities on human rights issues, “but in this case, we received a cynical string of falsehoods, a response that indicates that the government will back up police abuses.”

Ansari is a member of the El-Ayoun chapter of the legally recognized Moroccan Association of Human Rights. Rahmouni is a member of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations (ASVDH), an unrecognized organization based in El-Ayoun.  However, ASVDH, has followed the proper procedures for obtaining legal status.

Morocco effectively annexed the Western Sahara following the withdrawal of Spanish troops in 1976 and Mauritania withdrew from the remainder in 1979.  Since the withdrawal of Spanish troops in 1976, the Moroccan government engaged in a guerrilla war with the Polisario Front, a Western Saharan nationalist group.  The UN brokered a cease-fire between the two parties in 1991.

Recently, on April 30, 2008, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1813, which calls on Morocco and the Polisario Front to continue negotiations for a “mutually acceptable” self-determination solution in the disputed Western Sahara.

The resolution was highly disputed.  The US and France, both strong backers of the Moroccan government, supported statements permitting Saharwi autonomy.  South Africa, Costa Rica and Panama voted for the resolution but ultimately favored a resolution recognizing Saharwi’s right to independence.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Morocco: Sham Inquiry Highlights Impunity for Police Abuse – 8 May 2008

Middle East Online – Security Council Urges More Talks On W Sahara – 1 May 2008

International Herald Tribune – Security Council Calls for Realism and Compromise  on Western Sahara – 30 April 2008

Human Rights Watch – Letter to Moroccan Minister of Justice Abdelwahed Radi on Mistreatment of Human Rights Activists – 28 December 2008

Human Rights Watch – Morocco: Investigate Police Beating of Rights Activists in Western Sahara – 28 December 2008