Support political prisoners on hunger strike

We want to thank you for standing in solidarity with Saharawi human rights defenders currently imprisoned in Morocco, and we want to take this opportunity to update you on the current alarming situation for the prisoners. We also want to encourage you to share this petition once again with your friends and family through social media, to contact national and international human rights organizations and to send an e-mail to the Moroccan Human Rights Council and Moroccan government – in order to save the lives of these Saharawi human rights defenders. TAKE ACTION? If you wish to take steps to help this group of Saharawi political prisoners, we urge you to contact the Moroccan Human Rights Council and the Moroccan Government. Below is a short draft for you to copy as it is, add or make changes to, and send to the Minister of State for Human Rights, Sir Mr. Mustapha Ramid and the Moroccan Human Rights Council. If you can spare the time, please send two separate e-mails to each of the recipients. Feel free to freely copy and paste from the petition and any of our updates, including this one. Numerous emails (or faxes) will contribute to the pressure we wish to maintain towards those responsible for the torture and injustice. DRAFT E-MAIL: To: Minister of State for Human Rights, Sir Mr. Mustapha Ramid: contact@didh.gov.ma To: President of the Moroccan Human Rights Council, Mr. Idris Elyazami: elyazamai@cndh.org.ma, cndh@cndh.org.ma. Subject: URGENT: Intervene to save the lives of political prisoners now Text: Your excellency, The suffering of the Gdeim Izik prisoners are being heard in the world. It is with great concern that I reach out to you. The situation for the political prisoners of the Gdeim Izik-group is alarming, and the situation for the prisoners on hunger strike is currently life threatening. Respectfully, I ask you to intervene and take the necessary steps in order to save the lives of these political prisoners. I urge you to investigate the human rights violations these prisoners are subjected to and to intervene to prevent further violations. I further call on you to observe the rights of Saharawi prisoners under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and to transfer them to a prison located in Western Sahara. Lastly, I call on you to immediately take steps to ensure the release of all Saharawi political prisoners that are serving prison sentences within Moroccan prisons. The Moroccan government must free all human rights defenders who are serving prison sentences solely on the basis of their support of the right to self-determination for the Saharawi people. To defend human rights is not a crime. Best regards, [insert your name here] UPDATE ON THE PRISONERS' SITUATION For the last seven months, the human rights defenders have been subjected to torture and inhumane treatment and have been forced to conduct several hunger strikes. The Saharawi political prisoners currently imprisoned in Ait Melloul and Kenitra prison are currently conducting an open hunger strike demanding that their most basic human rights be respected, and that they are transferred to a prison in Western Sahara, close to their families. Today marks the 26th day of their hunger strike. The prisoners were informed on the 8th of March by the prison directors that they would be put in isolation if they were to commence on their hunger strikes. The prisoners have been held in isolation since 9th of March. The prisoners are kept in punishment cells known as coffin cells, infested with insect and vermin. Their situation is life-threatening. The families report that the prisoners on hunger strike are in an alarming state of health, with inability to move, body pain, difficulty to see, frequent nausea, headaches, kidney and stomach ache, and vomit of blood. According to the families the prisoners are victims of medical neglect. The Gdeim Izik-group have been arbitrary detained in Morocco for seven years. They have suffered and are still suffering under torture and inhumane treatment. In December, Sidi Abdallahi Abbahah and Ahmed Sbaai was placed inside ”toilets” and suffered under inhumane treatment. In December, Mbarek Lefkir was beaten until he lost consciousness by the prison guards of Ait Melloul when he refused to take his university exams naked. On the 2nd of April Mohammed Thalil and Cheick Banga were violently attacked in the prison of Bouzakaren by prison guards. El Bachir Khadda and Mohammed Lamin Haddi have conducted a 72-hour hunger strike in solidarity with their comrades. Mohamed Ayoubi, who was released on provisional release, died in February 2018 in the hospital of El Aaiun. Mr. Ayoubi died due to health issues deriving from the torture he was subjected to during and after his arrest in 2010. Over the past years several Saharawi political prisoners have died in Moroccan prisons due to medical neglect or mistreatment. The prison administration and the Moroccan government are responsible for the physical safety of all Saharawi human rights defenders currently imprisoned in Morocco. Our message to the Moroccan government and the Moroccan Human Rights Council (CNDH) is that the torture and gruesome treatment must stop before it is too late, and that the Moroccan government must free all human rights defenders. To defend human rights is not a crime. FURTHER STEPS Should you wish to do even more, we urge you to contact the Moroccan government by sending them a letter by fax. The following are the most relevant persons in the government: Head of the Moroccan Government, Dr. Saad Dine El Otmani. Fax number: 10 10 73 0537 Minister of State for Human Rights, M. Mustapha Ramid. Fax number: 05 37 76 6861 Minister of State for Justice, M. Mohamed Aujjar. Fax number: 05 37 73 4725