Brahim Dahane with protesters outside the Rabat Court of Appeals.The trial is against 24 political prisoners from my homeland of Western Sahara, on charges relating to violent resistance against Moroccan security forces, who in November 2010 brutally dismantled a protest camp set up by Saharawi activists at Gdeim Izik, outside the city of El-Ayoun. Eleven security officers were reported to have been killed.
Eight prisoners received life sentences, eleven more between 20-30 years imprisonment and the rest sentences between 2-6 years.
This is a travesty of justice as the trial was a sham and the prisoners, the families of the prisoners, myself and all those supporting them are totally devastated. It is a very dark day for human rights in Morocco and Western Sahara.
