Last week Aminatou Haidar, the 42-year old Sahrawi human rights campaigner, was arrested and expelled by Morocco. She visited the US last month to receive the Civil Courage Award from the Train Foundation and was also awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. On her return to El Ayoun airport in Western Sahara she [...]

Tags: Morocco, Western Sahara

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Morocco violates the rights to expression, association, and assembly in Western Sahara, Human Rights Watch said in a new report, revealing stark limits to the progress that Morocco has made in protecting human rights overall. Human rights conditions have also improved in the Sahrawi refugee camps managed by the Polisario Front in Algeria, although the [...]

Tags: Morocco, Western Sahara

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Amnesty International today accused the Mauritanian government of routine and systematic torture, saying that the security apparatus has adopted torture as the preferred method of investigation and repression.
“Torture is used against all categories of prisoners in Mauritania – whether they are suspected Islamists, soldiers accused of involvement in a coup, or those detained for simple [...]

Tags: Mauritania, Morocco, Torture

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Halt Repatriations and Provide Lawyers and Other Safeguards
Spain’s accelerating effort to send back unaccompanied children who enter the country illegally might subject them to danger, ill-treatment and detention, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government needs to halt repatriations until it has a process to ensure their well-being, and, as an [...]

Tags: Morocco, Spain, UN

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On Monday 8 September, a Moroccan man became the first blogger to be sentenced to two years imprisonment. Mohamed Erraji was also fined 5,000 dirhams (US5) for “lack of respect due to the King”. He is not the first Moroccan to be jailed for peacefully expressing his views on the monarchy, which is still a [...]

Tags: Morocco

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Charged With Disseminating ‘False Information,’ Men Go on Trial July 1
Morocco should drop criminal charges against a human rights defender and a television reporter, both of whom are accused of disseminating “false information,” Human Rights Watch said today.
Link to hrw.org

Tags: Morocco

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Navy Sailors Accused of Deliberately Sinking Boat
The Moroccan government should immediately investigate allegations that its naval forces sank a boat in the Mediterranean in which at least 28 migrants drowned, Human Rights Watch said today.
Link to hrw.org

Tags: Morocco

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Amnesty International today called on the Moroccan government to immediately open a comprehensive, independent and impartial investigation into claims that at least 28 migrants drowned at sea after their boat was jostled and punctured by members of the Moroccan security forces.
Amnesty International has spoken to some of the survivors. According to their testimonies at least [...]

Tags: Morocco

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Prosecutor Prematurely Closes Investigation Without Hearing All Testimony
Citing “lack of evidence,” Moroccan authorities closed an investigation into police abuse allegations made by two human rights defenders whose testimony the prosecutor refused to solicit, Human Rights Watch said today.
Link to hrw.org

Tags: Morocco

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Eight men convicted of undermining the monarchy in Morocco last year have been released after they were pardoned by the King on Friday, 4 April. Nine others facing judicial proceedings based on the same charges also benefited from the Royal pardon.
All of those pardoned were members of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. Seven of [...]

Tags: Morocco

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