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“What we have to say about the Moroccans is that they came to this country and occupied it in 1975. We are still claiming our independence, no more, no less. There is a lot of oppression. The secret police are everywhere. There is no freedom of expression.
Statement by Rachid Ahmed Mahmud Salama to the BBC in April 2009, his words still hold true today.
afapredesa.- At 2.30am on 17 July 2023, human rights defender Rachid Ahmed Mahmud Salama (also known as Rachid Sghayer), was the target of an assassination attempt by three Moroccan settlers who were waiting for him in front of his house in the town of Dakhla (formerly Villacisneros). The three assailants attacked him with bladed weapons, including a machete, on different parts of his body, causing injuries and serious wounds to his face and hand. He was taken to hospital in El Ayoun (capital of Western Sahara) where he underwent surgery, with a medical certificate of incapacity for 120 days. He is now out of danger and has been able to return to his home town of Dakhla where he received a warm welcome of support and solidarity from Saharawi citizens. The three attackers have neither been identified nor arrested, although one of them had been described by Rachid as having been watching his movements for several days. In similar cases of aggression, assassination or serious human rights violations and war crimes, the Moroccan intellectual and/or material authors have always enjoyed total impunity.
Human rights defender Rachid Ahmed Mahmud Slama is a native of the city of Dakhla, born in 1976. He is a member of the organisation Front Line Defenders and is involved in social networks to raise awareness among the Sahrawi population of their rights, in particular the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
Rachid has a long history of activities in defence of human rights and self-determination of the Sahrawi people. As a result, he has suffered numerous reprisals, intimidation, attacks and arbitrary detention. In April 2009, he was abducted and assaulted by Moroccan agents for having given an interview to the British BBC .
On 8 October 2009, he was arrested at Casablanca airport, together with 6 Saharawi defenders and activists, when they were returning from a historic and unprecedented visit to the Saharawi camps. He was “provisionally” released on 17 May 2010, without trial or compensation for his arbitrary detention and the torture he suffered during his illegal abduction.
Recently, Rachid Sgheyer has been heavily involved in investigations into serious human rights violations, including the enforced disappearance of Lahbib Ahmed Hmiti (known as Lahbib Aghrichi), a case before the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
The Association of Families of Saharawi Prisoners and Disappeared (AFAPREDESA) fears that the brutal attack and the attempt on his life are linked to the activities of Rachid Ahmed Mahmud Slama in defence of human rights in the Saharawi occupied territories.
AFAPREDESA strongly condemns this brutal aggression committed against the human rights defender and urges the Kingdom of Morocco, as the occupying power, to stop this brutal aggression:
Scrupulously respect the rights of the Saharawi civilian population, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols and bring those responsible to justice.
Put an end to the serious violations, intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment, war crimes against the Saharawi civilian population in general, and human rights defenders in particular.
Allow without further delay free access to the occupied territories of Western Sahara for international observers and humanitarian agencies, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross.AFAPREDESA requests the Spanish government to take the necessary diplomatic and political measures to protect the Saharawi population in the occupied territories of Western Sahara against any abuse, as required by its sacred mission as administering power of Western Sahara, in accordance with the UN Charter.
AFAPREDESA urges the United Nations to implement, without further delay, its resolutions on Western Sahara, in particular to adopt “independent and credible measures, as envisaged in the reports of the Secretary-General, the resolutions of the Security Council and the UN General Assembly, which ensure full respect for human rights, bearing in mind the obligations incumbent on (the parties) under international law”. This requires the urgent extension of the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to human rights monitoring. At the same time, it is urgent to resume the visits of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which have been paralysed since 2016.
AFAPREDESA also asks the European Union to take appropriate sanctions against the Moroccan state as long as it does not comply with the human rights standards set out in the advanced partnership agreements with the Kingdom of Morocco.
AFAPREDESA launches an urgent appeal to international human rights organisations to become more involved in order to put an end to the serious and systematic human rights violations in Western Sahara.
Finally, the Association of Families of Prisoners and Disappeared Saharawis (AFAPREDESA) asks the International Committee of the Red Cross to take initiatives to assist the victims of war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law in Western Sahara, as provided for by its own statutes and its humanitarian mission in the world.
Wilaya Chahid El Hamed Buyemaa, 26 July 2023.
