Press Release
A fierce Moroccan media campaign was launched targeting the “Saharawi Organ against Moroccan Occupation” (ISACOM- in Spanish abbreviation). Since the constitution of this Organ, many Moroccan bloggers and online websites, some of which are well-known and others anonymous, started using defamation and slander against the members of the ISACOM, mainly against its President, Mrs. Aminatou Haidar.
The revealing similarity between the content of these blog posts and texts presented as opinions proves that this campaign was just a prelude to an organized attack targeting the members of the Saharawi Organ against the Moroccan Occupation. The campaign increased with new voices, playing the same refrain, this time from Moroccan political parties’ newspapers, only to culminate on Tuesday 29 September 2020 with the statement by a Moroccan judicial officer in the occupied city of El Aaiun, who joined this attempt to silence Saharawi free voices, declaring his resolve to open a judicial investigation on the issue of the constitution of the Saharawi Organ against the Moroccan Occupation, coupled with the translation by various Moroccan security corpses of that statement into increased operations of surveillance and cracking down on the members of the Organ.
The Saharawi Organ against the Moroccan Occupation, while continuing the process of completing its structures issued from its Founding Conference held under the title “Congress of Martyr Mohamed Abdelaziz” in the occupied city of El Aaiun on 20 September 2020 under the theme “Unity, resilience and struggle to resist occupation”, declare to the national and international public opinion the following:
- Takes note, with great condemnation, of the frantic campaign waged by parties that are hostile to freedom, and warns against the atmosphere of intimidation created by media reports that are presented as opinions, which aim at fueling the fire of odious chauvinism and racism against Saharawis.
- Condemns the harassment committed against members of its Executive Bureau on the evening of Tuesday 29 September 2020, in El-Aaiun, in front of the house of the family of Mr. Mustafa Ould Ahmed Babou, after they have being followed and put under surveillance by the Moroccan security services. The harassment targeted two members of the Bureau in the beginning, mainly Mr. Hamadi Mohamed Lamine Naciri and Mr. Lehcen Dalil, then also Mrs. Mina Baali, who was assaulted by police and injured at the level of her neck with cuts and bruises. All members were not allowed to reach the house.
- Urges the international community to intervene to prevent further deterioration of the human rights situation in Western Sahara, and warns against the results of this escalation campaign against Sahrawi activists opposing the Moroccan occupation, especially as it has begun to take the form of preparing for arrests in order to take revenge on them in Moroccan mock trials.
Executive Bureau
Done on 30 September 2020
Occupied El Aaiun/Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic
