EQUIPE MEDIASahrawi journalist Hmetou El Kaouri sentenced to 20 years in prison

Equipe Media, Occupied Territories of Western Sahara, 3/2/2023

Hmetou El Kaouri* is a journalist for Smara News, in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

On 7 September 2022, Hmetou El Kaouri went to the El Ayoun police station to renew his identity card and was then arrested and transferred to Smara. A warrant for his arrest dates to 2018.

El Kaouri was on the case file of Mohamed Salem Mayara, a journalist, and Mohamed Aljomayaai, a cameraman.

The three were charged with disruption of traffic, attacking public property, armed gathering, and attempted murder.

The latter charge of attempted murder was expunged from Mayara and Aljomayaai's file, and on 31 March 2018 they were sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment and 18 months suspended prison. They served the sentence and were released.

However, for El Kaouri, the charge of attempted murder was upheld and added to the other charges.

On 23 November 2022 he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in Laayoune.

On 18 January 2023, he was sentenced at second instance to 20 years' imprisonment.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Smara issued a statement in which they criticise the sentence and denounce the colonial policy without respect for international charters and laws. They also denounce the systematic repression against Saharawis, whether they are activists of the Saharawi cause, human rights activists or journalists.

They add that the charges were trumped up, and the sentence, unjust and harsh, came on top of a mock trial.

Hmetou El Kaouri is detained in El Ayoun prison.

* Hmetou El Kaouri is the name by which he is known to everyone. His Saharawi name is Mahmoud Mohamed Salem El Kaouri. Mahmoud El Kaouri is the name on his Moroccan passport.

MARY LAWLORSahrawi WHRD Sultana Khaya Reports Violent Attacks Under House Arrest

Mary Lawlor, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, srdefenders.org, 23/12/2021

Sahrawi Woman Human Rights Defender Sultana Khaya told me she has been forcibly held under house arrest for over a year, unable to leave, or to have any other family, or anyone else – including medics –  visit her, even when she is sick.

She told me how, after her arrest in November 2020, she has been held in her family’s house, with dozens of security officers guarding the doors, day and night, that her sister and her elderly mother are with her, and only her mother is allowed to leave to get food.

Sultana said she has not been charged with any crime, and that she would welcome a chance to respond to whatever allegations are against her. In June 2021 I joined with other UN independent experts in raising her treatment with the Moroccan authorities, noting that Sultana has been a prominent Woman Human Rights Defender for many years.

A 2007 attack on her resulted in her losing an eye, and she has been subjected to various attacks as a result of her human rights work.  Now she is held in indefinite detention in harsh conditions. Her house has been stripped all virtually all furniture and appliances, and she and her mother and sister all sleep in the same small room.

She told me that in recent months masked security agents have repeatedly raided the house during the night, tying her hands, blindfolding her and gagging her. She said during these raids she and her sister have been attacked, and that she has been raped. She named those who she said are the perpetrators, and is in constant fear of more attacks.

She also described how, during two of these raids, the attackers injected her with unknown substances, and that they have also thrown toxic liquids into the house, stripping the walls of paint and affecting her health. She says the poison has made her hair fall out and her teeth brittle. 

Sultana appears to be in serious danger, in declining health and vulnerable to further attacks. She has been held like this for 400 days.

 

Business as usual : The Western Sahara conundrum

Sebastián Ruiz-Cabrera, El Salto, april 2021

Translated by Andy Barton

An investigative series exploring the different aspects that contribute to maintaining the state of emergency in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. This series was made possible by the Basque NGO MUNDUBAT and funding from the Madrid City Council.

1-Destroying life
2-Gone with the wind
3-The desert scrub
4-The indomitable sea

 

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