Trial of Gdim Izik protestors 'flawed', says Amnesty International
Amnesty International has condemned the Moroccan military trial of 24 Saharawi civilians, describing the judicial process as 'flawed from the outset.' Amnesty International called for an additional investigation into allegations of torture during the protestors' detention at Sale prison.
All of the group, which includes several activists, are on trial in Rabat today in relation to violence during and after the dismantling of the Gdim Izik protest camp near Laayoune, Western Sahara in November 2010, when 11 members of the security forces and two Sahrawis were killed.
Most of the defendants have said that they were tortured and otherwise ill-treated at different stages of their two-year pre-trial detention. Some are said to have been coerced into signing statements.
The 24 - including members of Sahrawi civil society organizations and Sahrawi political activists - face charges including belonging to a criminal organization, violence against a public official and the desecration of a corpse.
The crime of violence against a public official can be punished by the death penalty when such violence leads to intentional death. On 8 November 2010, violence broke out when Moroccan security forces tried forcibly to remove people from and dismantle the Gdim Izik protest camp a few kilometres east of the town of Laayoune, in the Moroccan-administered Western Sahara.
The Gdim Izik camp had been set up in early October by Sahrawis protesting against their perceived marginalization and demanding jobs and adequate housing. Eleven members of the security forces and two Sahrawi's were killed during the violence.
Some 200 Sahrawis were arrested by the security forces during and days after the violence. Further arrests were also made in December. Most of those arrested were released but the 24 on trial today have already spent two years in pre-trial detention in Rabat's Sale prison.
In December 2010 Amnesty International published a report following a fact-finding visit to Morocco and Western Sahara to investigate allegations of human rights abuses committed on and in relation to the events of 8 November at Gdim Izik and Laayoune.
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