SEVENTEEN ACTIVISTS IN THE WESTERN SAHARA: BEATEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000616

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/05/2011
TAGS: PREL PGOV UN PBTS PHUM MO
SUBJECT: SEVENTEEN ACTIVISTS IN THE WESTERN SAHARA: BEATEN
OR NOT?

REF: A. RABAT 00539

B. RABAT 00558

Classified By: Pol/C Timothy A. Lenderking, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: On April 3, seventeen Sahrawi prisoners
were brought to court from Laayoune prison for their trials.
According to the Polisario website and Sahrawi activist
Brahim Afari who called Polcouns April 4, the prisoners were
"severely beaten" in vans on the way to the court. One
activist indicated that Brahim Dahane, the leader of a
nongovernmental organization, was beaten twice. There have
been no Moroccan press accounts of events in Laayoune and GOM
officials will not confirm the events. At present there is
no objective observer in Laayoune to confirm or deny the
reports. MINURSO has said they have no hard facts. End
Summary.


2. (SBU) On April 3, seventeen Sahrawi prisoners were taken
from the Laayoune prison to court in vans. Upon arrival at
the courthouse, it was evident that the seventeen had been
beaten in the vans, according to contacts and the Polisario's
Sahara Presse Service. Family members who were waiting at
the court were reportedly shocked by the prisoners'
conditions. The judge postponed the trial until April 25,
reportedly on the grounds that lawyers for the accused
requested an investigation into the alleged abuse. The
seventeen prisoners are: Brahim Dahane, Idrissi Boudda,
Athman Atnakha, Louchaa Bahiya, Haddi Lehbib, Machkour
Bachir, Injourni Salilamou, Labras Majoub, Targui Malainin,
Echain Mborik, Ait Abeilou Mbarek, Leghazal Hamou, Amaidan
Mauloud, Labras Mbarek, Ismaili Mbarek, Tanji Daha, and Sidi
Sayelli.


3. (SBU) The most well-known of the prisoners is Brahim
Dahane, who was arrested on October 30, 2005 during a
demonstration in Laayoune (and a few days after a meeting
with emboffs). Dahane is the president of an unofficial
(according to the GOM) nongovernmental organization, the
Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights
Violations Committed by the Moroccan State. According to two
other members of this NGO, Mohammed Daha (protect) and Brahim
Afari (protect),the prisoners were beaten by "Le GUS," one
of the divisions of Securitie Nationale, or "the urban
security group." These two sources said that the prisoners
were dressed in Sahrawi robes, chanting and raising the peace
sign before they boarded the vans at the prison. The
representative of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights
(AMDH),which generally takes a tough line against the GOM,
also told Polles that the prisoners were beaten. The
prisoners' lawyers filed a grievance with the court; the
grievance was denied.


4. (SBU) Afari's account of the events focused on Dahane,
whom he said was beaten twice: first in the van and then
again at the courthouse. Dahane, according to Afari, refused
to be searched when he entered the courthouse. Dahane was
then separated from the other prisoners, taken to a waiting
room and beaten again. Activist Daha, in turn, told Polles
that he works at Laayoune Hospital and that Dahane arrived at
the hospital covered in blood. Dahane had cuts and bruises
on his face and head. According to Daha, another activist
spent the night in the hospital because his leg had been
broken. Other detainees were injured as well, Daha claimed,
and received medical treatment and were returned to the
prison. Daha asked that an embassy official observe the
trial when it resumes on April 25. Afari indicated that
Sahrawis are deeply concerned over the incidents and suspect
that the prisoners will be beaten again on April 25. He too
requested embassy support.


5. (SBU) Luis DeVega (protect),a Spanish journalist based
in Morocco, who takes a hard line against the GOM, told
Polcouns April 6 that he had talked to people in Laayoune who
had seen the detainees arrive at court "bloodied." He was
clear to say that no one he had spoken to had actually
witnessed the beatings, but he had no doubt that a number of
the detainees (he was not sure how many) had been beaten.

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The GOM Perspective

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6. (C) Poloff contacted Brahim Bouabid, Counselor at the
MOJ, on April 4 concerning the beatings. Bouabid, normally
very helpful to the mission, had no information and initially
said that "all of the people who would handle this issue are
out of the country today." Calling back later, he wanted to
know from whom Poloff had received the information about the
beatings. Bouabid discounted the website as a source and
said that the truth was not being told. Similarly, Secretary
General of the Wilayat of Laayoune Hamid Chariai, whom
Polcouns contacted by phone the afternoon of April 6, said
there was no way the detainees were beaten but offered no
alternative explanation of events.


7. (C) Polcouns also spoke with the Director of General
Affairs in the Wali of Laayoune's office, Mr. Younes. Mr.
Younes did not provide any information directly but promised
to get the embassy answers if the embassy would provide a
letter detailing exactly what it wished to know. Polcouns
faxed a letter to Mr. Younes requesting information
concerning the veracity of the above reports the afternoon of
April 6. We will report any response septel.


8. (C) At the conclusion of a meeting with the Ambassador on
April 6 in Rabat (septel),Polcouns asked SRSG Bastagli and
MINURSO Political Officer Carmen Johns if they had any
information on the situation. Bastagli said MINURSO was
aware of the reports but had no hard facts.

--------------
Comment
--------------


9. (C) Assessing the validity of the beatings becomes a "he
said - she said" game. It is impossible to verify the
stories without an objective observer being present in
Laayoune, that is someone who had access to the prisoners
prior to the trial date, who saw them before arrival at the
courthouse and after their arrival. If only partially true,
the GOM is disregarding its own best interests as this type
of press, in light of the 2005 events in the Western Sahara,
can only serve to tarnish Morocco's international reputation.
"Human rights are fine if one is not an outspoken Sahrawi"
is the message being conveyed.

10. (C) These allegations also come at an awkward time for
Morocco -- as the newly revamped Council for Saharan Affairs
(CORCAS) concludes its first meeting in Rabat, as Morocco
continues to express publicly its determination to grant a
wide autonomy to citizens of the Western Sahara, as the
Security Council prepares to release its report on the
Western Sahara, and as the UN Commission for Human Rights
continues to be turned away by Morocco from looking at the
human rights situation in the Western Sahara. Thus far the
GOM has done nothing publicly to refute or acknowledge the
allegations of the activists being beaten. Of course, with
all of the international attention focused on the Western
Sahara, those who reject Moroccan control over the Sahara
have every incentive to keep the pot boiling at this
particular time.


11. (C) If the Ministry of Interior is serious about a
human rights dialogue, then this issue is precisely the type
they should be discussing with the embassy (reftel B).


12. (SBU) Post will report further information septel.
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Riley