Discrimination and violence against Sahrawi students in Agadir

On Thursday 11 and Friday 12 December 2014 more than 150 Saharawi students participated in demonstrations in Law and Humanities Faculties in Agadir, and also in Essalam´s student residential neighbourhood.
They demand respect for their administrative rights as regards the enrollment of adult students and transfer from one department to another or from one Faculty to another. While these enrollments and administrative procedures are possible for Moroccan students, there is a lot of restraints and refusals for Sahrawi students.
This discrimination lasts since the occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco and has not changed ever since. Due to the lack of universities in Western Sahara, Sahrawi students are compelled to continue their studies in Morocco, where they must face every sort of educational, administrative and other problems. Therefore, they must react and protest against such a critical situation.

On both days, the young demonstrators, boys and girls, were attacked by Moroccan police and auxiliary forces who dispersed them using clubs.
During these demonstrations 14 students were arrested, 7 of them were released after 48 hours in custody and other 6 were transferred to the prison of Ait Melloul. Another 16 years old student, was arrested during the demonstration that took place in Essalam neighbourdhood was transferred to a detention center for minors in Inzigane city .
The Ait Melloul prison direction has separated the six students and locked them up individually in cells with common prisoners.

The 6 Sahrawis began a hunger strike starting on Monday, December 15 to protest against their illegal imprisonment and to demand an respond investigation on the ill-treatment they suffered in the police station in Agadir under the orders of the police commander Mustapha Kamour. This agent is known for his involvement in physical and psychological abuse against Sahrawi People while serving in the occupied cities in Western Sahara.
On Monday, December 22, the student’s trial was held. The audience began at 1p.m. and the verdict was rendered at 7 p.m. The Sahrawi student Mohamed El Kentaoui was sentenced to two months suspensive sentence, all others were acquitted and released. The 6 detainees on hunger strike have ended it.
All 14 students who suffered torture filed a complaint with the moroccan king´s prosecutor in Agadir.

Nafaa El Kentaoui (minor), Siba Molay El Mahjoub, Noumria Hassanna, Sbaai Mohamed, Laarousi Fatan, Kharachi Abdellah, and Mohamed Chraga, after having being tortured during the interrogation and after a frightening week in prison, were released without an apology or compensation.
It is expectable that officers involved in the torture of the Sahrawi students will not be punished or reprimanded. The complaint will remain without consequences as it is common practice, like other thousands similar complaints made before.

EM, Agadir
December 22 , 2014

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