PUSL.- Saharawi political prisoner Lahoucine Amaadour (Saharawi name Husein Bachir Brahim) was brought to court on Tuesday, April 16 after 90 days of arbitrary detention (maximum term of detention without trial). The court did not inform the defence lawyer, which for that reason, did not appear and the trial was postponed to June 11.
The “forgetting” of the court in summoning the defence lawyer thus causes Amaadour to remain detained for 147 days without in pre-trial detention which is illegal.
A manoeuvre often used when it comes to Saharawi political prisoners whose trials are postponed consecutively, thus extending the period of pre-trial detention far beyond the time allowed by law.
Today is the 10th day of Amaadour’s hunger strike who went on hunger strike on April 9 against the serious mistreatment and arbitrary denial of family visits and illegal procedures to which he has been subjected.
Mr. Amaadour is currently in an overcrowded prison cell with 21 convicted prisoners. Some of the prisoners have contagious diseases, an illegal situation since people still detained awaiting trial and sentencing cannot be detained with already convicted prisoners. Being in a cell with infected infectious prisoners is also illegal.
