BENTILI.- The Saharawi political prisoner “Mohammed Mansour Salama Benno” was released on 28/03/2019 after spending a month and five days in the black jail of El Aaiun in occupied Western Sahara.
Mohammed was arrested on 22.02.2019 after his participation in a nonviolent demonstration on Tan Tan Avenue in El Aaiun, demanding the self-determination of the Saharawi people.
The Moroccan authorities tortured him for more than 72 hours at the police station and then he was sent to the city’s black prison on Tuesday 27/02/2019.
On Wednesday 06/03/2019 he was presented at the Court of First Instance of El Aaiun, where he was sentenced to two months imprisonment in retaliation for his activism and political opinion.
Thursday 28/03/2019 Mohammed was presented to the Court of appeal of El Aaiun and released, reducing the sentence he had received in the court of first instance.
The conviction was not based on any crime committed, no evidence was produced on any crime committed and the courts relied solely on police documents drawn up during and after the torture of Mohammed Mansour Salama Benno.
No investigation into Torture suffered by Benno was carried out by the Moroccan judicial system.
This procedure highlights, once again, the lack of judicial independence of the Moroccan judges in relation to the Saharawis.
