Suspicious death of a Saharawi detainee in Moroccan local prison in Ait Melloul
07/07/2007

The Saharawi detainee Dada Ali Hamma Nafaa passed away on Friday in a hospital in Agadir (Morocco) after he was transferred in a critical state from his cell in the local prison of Ait Melloul.

The Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Saharawi people’s right to self-determination indicated that the young detainee (29 years old) was suffering from many serious diseases and has never been authorised by the Moroccan penitentiary authorities to have proper medical care.

The same Committee, which is chaired by the ex-political prisoner and winner of Rafto Price for Human Rights 2002, Sidi Mohamed Daddach, indicated that the “Saharawi prisoner died in the hospital on his bed with the hands cuffed and under a tight police surveillance”, what indicates that he did not really have any kind of medical care.

The Saharawi Committee called on the international human rights organisations, UN and the international community to intervene in emergency to save the lives of Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan jails.

It also warned against the serious state of health of some Saharawi students, in Moroccan custody in Rabat, who are undertaking a hunger strike for almost a month so far.

Five Saharawi human rights organizations and committees called on the UN and the international community to save the lives of hunger-striking Saharawi students detained in Moroccan prison in Sale, a press release issued on Wednesday by the organizations indicated.

“For the 24th day, the Saharawi students, detained in the local prison of Sale –Morocco-, are undertaking an unlimited hunger strike to ask for the right to be imprisoned in the same cell (apart from criminals-Ed), the right to be visited by their families and friends, in addition to the right to better conditions of imprisonment, medical care and contact with the external world and the right to be treated as political prisoners”, the press release stressed, it should be recalled.

The Saharawi students started their hunger strike, it should be recalled, since June the 10th, after they failed to convince the prison’s administration positively deal with their demands.

The press release was signed by the Saharawi Committee for the Support of Western Sahara’s Right to Self-determination, the Saharawi Association of the Victims of Flagrant Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State, the Committee Against Torture in Dajla-Western Sahara, the Saharawi Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Smara-Western Sahara, the Committee for the Support of the UN’s Settlement Plan and protection of Western Sahara’s Natural Resources.