UPDATE ON PRISON CONDITIONS IN LAAYOUNE

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000138

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR DRL/NESCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2020
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SNAR SOCI WI MO
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON PRISON CONDITIONS IN LAAYOUNE

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR GREGORY THOME FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) an
d (d.)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Conditions have improved a great
deal in the last year and a half at the Laayoune
prison, the only official prison facility in the
Western Sahara. GOM authorities have reduced the
prison population by nearly half although a large
portion of the reductions are due to the transfer
of prisoners to other, often more crowded detention
facilities in internationally recognized Morocco.
Some Sahrawis characterize these transfers as
punishments, saying the moves make it difficult
for families in the Western Sahara to visit their
imprisoned relatives. Amongst the 448 prisoners
currently being held in the Laayoune prison, there
are 39 women and 31 teenagers, all held separately
from the men. The Moroccan Observatory of Prisons
(OMP) reports that two known Sahrawi independence
activists (convicted of non-political offenses)
are imprisoned in Laayoune and 17 are held
elsewhere. However, Sahrawi NGOs say the number
of such prisoners is between 52. END SUMMARY.

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A View from the Inside
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2. (SBU) During a February 2-4 trip to Laayoune,
we met with Nourredine Darif, the Laayoune-based
OMP representative and Benziza Kaltoum, Director
of the Association Al-Fath, an NGO that works on
prisoner education and efforts to reinsert them
back into society upon their release. Darif has
been based out of Laayoune and Smara for years
and was inspired to work toward improving prison
conditions after he himself spent four months in
Laayoune's then-badly overcrowded prison in 2004.
Benziza has worked in the Laayoune facility for
eleven years and her NGO has recently expanded
its activities thanks to an injection of government
funding. Her NGO has predominantly focused on
literacy and job training for prisoners. Her
employment training programs, which often continue
after the prisoner has been released, focus on small
business development skills to prepare prisoners
economically for life after prison.


3. (SBU) Both Darif and Benziza confirmed that they
have regular access to the prison in Laayoune. Benziza
actually holds a badge which grants her daily access.
Darif, on the other hand, must as an OMP representative
still receive specific approval on a case-by-case basis
in order to gain entry. Both acknowledged that GOM
authorities are much more forthcoming in granting
prison access to NGOs such as Al-Fath that focus
strictly on ministering to prisoners' educational,
religious or other needs, as opposed to those such
as OMP that are specifically concerned with human
rights. That said, Darif confirmed that he rarely
faces problems or extensive delays in gaining access.

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Background on the Laayoune Prison
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4. (SBU) The Laayoune prison is the only official
detention center in the Western Sahara region, aside
from meager holding cells co-located in the Smara,
Boujdour and Dakhla police stations (respectively 2,
3 and 7 hours from Laayoune by car). The Spaniards
built the prison when Laayoune was still under colonial
rule and it underwent a renovation in the 1980s.
Despite a GOM announcement in 2008 that a new prison
would be built -- or the current facility at least
renovated -- Darif said that such plans are now off
the table for budgetary reasons. The prison has a
capacity of 300 but is currently holding 448 prisoners
-- still overcrowded, but down substantially from the
900 inmates it housed in 2005. At the moment, the
prison holds 417 men, 39 teenagers and 31 women. Darif
confirmed that both the group of teenagers and the
females are held separately from the men. This is in
contrast to the majority of other prisons throughout
Morocco in which juveniles are often held in the same
cells as adults due to the lack of adequate juvenile
prison facilities.


5. (SBU) The dramatic reduction in Laayoune's prison
population comes in part as a result of King Mohammed
VI's annual amnesty which, in the absence of a
functioning parole system, permits the GOM to release
hundreds of prisoners throughout Morocco prior to the
completion of their full sentences. However, the
lion's share of the reduction is due to a systematic
transfer of prisoners from Laayoune to other prisons
throughout the southern areas of internationally
recognized Morocco, especially to Agadir and Marrakesh.
While Darif and Benziza applauded this GOM effort,
which has served to dramatically improve conditions for
the prisoners, they acknowledged that some have
criticized the transfer program. Some Sahrawi families
complain that the transfers have made family visits
more difficult, Benziza said. In addition, Sahrawi
pro-independence and human rights activists have
alleged that the authorities often move prisoners as a
punishment for bad behavior or because of their
political views. Darif admitted that the transfers
have not addressed Morocco's overarching problem of
overcrowded prisons -- especially since the authorities
transferred most of the Laayoune prisoners to prisons
in Morocco proper that are themselves overcrowded.
(NOTE: This information tracks with data that Hafidh
Benhachem, head of the Directorate General for Prison
Administration (DGAP),released in early January of

2010. END NOTE.)

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Other Improvements
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6. (SBU) Darif and Benziza also described other
improvements within the prison. With the reduced
population, prison officials can manage family visits
better and allow them to occur more frequently.
Regional officials have increased food budgets, and
prisoners' diets are now adequate enough that family
members do not need to supplement them. Prisoners have
access to a gym and a soccer field, as well as a
library, a small computer lab, and adequate spaces for
prayer. Benziza noted that the new Wali (i.e.,
the regional administrator and senior Laayoune-based
Ministry of Interior official) has taken a special
interest in post-prison reinsertion of prisoners, and
has begun providing funding for her organization to
provide increased vocational training in auto repair,
hair styling, and small business management.

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Political Prisoners?
--------------


7. (C) Darif emphasized that all the inmates at Laayoune
had committed -- or at least been tried and found guilty
of -- actual crimes. However, he cited nineteen cases of
known Sahrawi pro-independence activists who are currently
serving time in Moroccan prisons -- two in Laayoune and
17 in internationally recognized Morocco. In each of
these cases, authorities arrested the Sahrawis and
convicted them of a legitimate offense; however, Darif
suggested, their known political beliefs may have
influenced authorities' decision-making regarding their
convictions, sentences, or current location. (NOTE: In
a separate meeting, members of the Collective of Sahrawi
Human Rights Defenders, the pro-independence NGO that
Aminatou Haidar leads, alleged that the GOM currently held
52 such prisoners at various prisons in Western Sahara
and Morocco. END NOTE.)


8. (C) COMMENT: The dramatic reduction in overcrowding
and the improved conditions for prisoners in Laayoune
is encouraging, and clearly comes as part of a GOM effort
to improve the basic human rights situation in the
territory. However, the transfer of prisoners out of
the Laayoune prison doesn't reduce overall prison
overcrowding in Morocco. As for the political
questions surrounding some Sahrawi prisoners, Moroccan
law does not recognize the concept of political
prisoners and the GOM argues that there are none in
the country. However, we do not doubt our contacts'
suggestion that there may be political overtones to the
cases against some Sahrawis. END COMMENT.


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