Press release : 4 lawsuits filed for torture on Sahrawi political prisoners

Press release : ACAT – France, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the Protection League of Sahrawi Political Prisoners (LPPS)

Document : 220610 CP FR 4 plaintes CAT

On Thursday, 9 June, four complaints were filed against the State of Morocco before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva.

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), ACAT-France, Mr Joseph Breham with the support of Ms Julie Baleynaud, Ms Laurence Greig and the League for the Protection of Sahrawi Political Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons (LPPS) have been preparing complaints for over a year before the United Nations Committee Against Torture concerning four Sahrawi human rights defenders who were severely tortured by the Moroccan authorities.

Thanks to the LPPS, the associations and lawyers have been able to communicate with the families, notably during the visit of an international delegation to Rabat in May 2022. Despite Moroccan surveillance, censorship and threats recently revealed by the Pegasus affair, the families have expressed their hopes: ‘We cannot leave our sons abandoned in Moroccan prisons.’

The four applicants, Mohamed Lamine Haddi, Hassan Dah, Abdelmoula El-Hafidi and Mohamed Bani, have been detained for between six and twelve years on the basis of confessions obtained under torture, in violation of international law and without a fair trial. These complaints symbolise the hope of recognising the torture suffered by these individuals in violation of Morocco’s international commitments.

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