Saharawi political prisoner Dada victim of extreme ill treatment

PUSL.- Faraji Dada, Saharawi political prisoner, who is currently detained in Ait Melloul 1 prison near Agadir has been subjected to continous ill treatment. Dada has been placed among the detainees with violent criminal sentences who are incenrived by the prison administration to ill treat him.

The detainment conditions are far below the minimum basic standards of hygiene and safety.

In light of the ill treatment and the denial of his right to communicate with his family by phone, Dada tried to write a complaint to the competent authorities which was prevented by the prison direction. .

Faraji Dada was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the court of first instance in El Aaiun, occupied Western Sahara.

He was transferred from the Black prison, in El Aaiun (occupied Western Sahara) to Ait Melloul (Morocco) last June 3rd.

The Moroccan occupation authorities accused the young man of “setting fire to a Moroccan police vehicle and violence against public officials”. This charge has not been proven and the young man has denied all charges.

Dada was detained last December in the city of Smara, occupied territories in Western Sahara and informed that he had an outstanding warrant for arrest regrading charges relating to events that took place in 2017 in Smara.

The young man was transferred to the Black Prison of El Aaiun, where he awaited trial.

Mohamed Fadel Lilli is Dada’s defense lawyer, but there was no presence of foreign observers in this trial, since Spanish lawyer Ana Sebastián who was going to participate as an observer was prevented by the Moroccan authorities from entering the territory.

Faraji Dada is the brother of Mohamed Dada, a young Saharawi student from the Student group known as “Grupo El Uali” who was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.