When Hunger Strike Becomes the Last Voice
Amid an overwhelming international silence, the Association for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons has addressed an open letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, demanding urgent intervention to save the lives of nine Sahrawi civilian prisoners from the Gdeim Izik group, who have been on an open-ended hunger strike since 23 September 2026. These prisoners, distributed among the prisons of Ait Melloul 2, Tiflet 2, and Kenitra, resorted to this measure only after exhausting all legal and peaceful means of demanding their legitimate rights.
Background to the Crisis: Systematic Dispersal and Denial of Basic Rights
The open letter reveals that these civilian prisoners are waging their strike in protest against their continued dispersal across separate prison facilities, their deprivation of the right to assembly, and their transfer to the cities of Western Sahara. These demands are not new but come within an accumulating context of violations targeting Sahrawi prisoners, which contravene the most basic rules of international humanitarian law.
The Association points out that the strike coincided with what it described as a policy of revenge, torture, and systematic ill-treatment, which adds a double danger to the situation, as the matter was not limited to depriving prisoners of their rights but extended to harming their physical and psychological safety.
Arbitrary Transfers and Lack of Information on Places of Detention
Among the most dangerous matters documented by the Association in its letter is the campaign of arbitrary transfers that accompanied the strike, carried out without prior notice to families, leaving the whereabouts of some prisoners unknown for varying periods. On 23 September, prisoner Nema Asfari was transferred to Oudaya Prison in Marrakech without notifying his family, and his whereabouts remained unknown until 28 September. On 24 September, prisoner Bashir Khadda was transferred from Tiflet 2 Prison without prior notice, before it was later confirmed that he had been moved to the occupied Laayoune Prison. As for prisoner Hassan Dahi, he was transferred to Ben Guerir Prison without notifying his family, and his place of detention remained unknown until 30 September.
These practices, which include the temporary concealment of places of detention, constitute a flagrant violation of the Convention against Torture and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), which explicitly prohibit any form of enforced or arbitrary disappearance.
Deteriorating Health Condition: Death Threatens the Lives of Prisoners
As the hunger strike continues, signs of serious deterioration in the health of the prisoners have begun to appear. On 25 September, prisoner Mohamed Bani was transferred to the clinic of Ait Melloul 2 Prison after his health condition deteriorated, forcing him to suspend his hunger strike. On 30 September, the Association received information about the deteriorating health condition of prisoner Hassan Dahi inside Ben Guerir Prison, with a loss of seven kilograms in weight and his continuation of the hunger strike, alongside testimonies about his being shackled and assaulted during the transfer process.
On 5 October, the Association received news confirming that prisoner Mohamed El Bachir Boutengiza is in a miserable detention condition and a serious health situation requiring urgent medical intervention, noting that he was subjected to assault, ill-treatment, and provocation by the director of Kenitra Prison. These data paint a grim picture of a reality in which death is about to precede any humanitarian intervention.
Prevention of Visits and Communication: Collective Punishment of Families
The violation was not limited to the prisoners themselves but extended to include their families, in a collective punishment that violates all international covenants. On 28 and 29 September, the families of prisoners Ahmed Sabai, Hassan Dahi, and Hussein Zawi were prevented from visiting, after traveling more than 1,200 kilometers to reach Kenitra Prison. Prisoners also continued to be prevented from communicating by phone with their families, while uncertainty continued to surround the whereabouts of some of them.
These practices, which include pressure on families and cutting off communication, constitute a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which guarantees the protection of persons deprived of liberty and enables them to communicate with their families.
Multiple Violations: From Isolation to Medical Neglect
The Association documents a series of violations targeting Sahrawi prisoners, including isolation and cutting off communication, arbitrary transfers and temporary concealment of places of detention, pressure on families, health risks and medical neglect, in addition to testimonies about ill-treatment. These practices, which constitute a violation of a number of international covenants, including the Nelson Mandela Rules, the Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Fourth Geneva Convention, place Morocco in direct confrontation with the international community and call for urgent intervention by the United Nations.
Demands to the United Nations: Urgent Intervention to Save Lives
In its open letter, the Association called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to urgently intervene to save the lives of the prisoners on hunger strike, to immediately reveal the whereabouts of all prisoners, and to enable their families and lawyers to communicate with them. It also demanded the provision of independent and urgent medical care and the disclosure of medical examination results, the cessation of isolation, retaliatory measures, and unjustified restrictions on visits and communication, and transfer to prisons within the territory of Western Sahara in accordance with the requirements of international humanitarian law.
The Association also demanded an independent investigation into allegations of assault and ill-treatment during transfer and detention, enabling human rights bodies and competent international mechanisms to monitor the conditions of prisoners and verify the circumstances of their detention, in addition to exerting pressure on the Moroccan occupation state to respect its international obligations.
An International Responsibility That Tolerates No Delay
What is happening inside Moroccan prisons in terms of violations against Sahrawi prisoners is not an internal matter but an issue that touches international humanitarian law and human rights guaranteed by international covenants. As the open hunger strike continues, every passing hour means an increasing threat to the lives of these prisoners. Therefore, the United Nations, as the primary guarantor of international peace and security, must act immediately to save lives and put an end to these violations that contradict all human values. The silence of the international community before this tragedy is not a moral option but complicity with the executioner and a failure of historical responsibility toward a people demanding their freedom and dignity.