GENEVA - The UN Committee against Torture has again found that Morocco violated the rights of Sahrawi detainees linked to the Gdeim Izik camp protest in Western Sahara, saying that ten similar cases examined so far point to "a consistent pattern of arbitrary arrests, solitary confinement, acts of torture or ill-treatment during interrogations, and the subsequent use of confessions obtained under duress in judicial proceedings."
The Committee published its decisions today after reviewing four complaints concerning detainees who were arrested following the dismantling of the Gdeim Izik camp near Laâyoune in 2010. The camp, which grew to include more than 20,000 protesters, had been set up by Sahrawis living in Western Sahara to protest what they described as discrimination and poor social and economic conditions there.
According to the complainants, they were arrested by Moroccan officials in the aftermath of the camp's dismantling and subjected to torture and ill-treatment during arrest, interrogation, transfer and detention. The complainants alleged to have been severely beaten, burned with cigarettes, threatened with rape, suspended in the so-called "roast chicken" position for extended periods of time, subjected to "falaka" (repeated blows with an iron bar to the soles of the feet), held in solitary confinement, deprived of food and medical care, and denied effective access to lawyers and family visits.
"Unfortunately, these are not isolated cases, but point to a structural problem in Morocco's handling of the Gdeim Izik-related cases," Peter Vedel Kessing, Vice Chair of the Committee, said, adding that the Committee had earlier decided on six other similar cases. "When torture allegations are repeatedly raised, ignored and followed by convictions based on disputed statements, the absolute prohibition of torture is put at risk," Kessing said.
The complainants alleged that they reported the acts of torture and ill-treatment to several judicial authorities. However, both the investigating judge and the public prosecutor refused to record the allegations and declined to order an investigation into such allegations, including a medical examination. Only six years later, the President of the Court of Appeal of Rabat finally ordered medical examinations, which were not carried out by independent doctors in accordance with, inter alia, the Istanbul Protocol and could not substitute for an effective investigation.
"Where a detainee appears before judicial authorities with visible signs of torture, the State has an immediate obligation to investigate," Kessing said. "The exclusion of evidence obtained through torture is a core safeguard. Authorities must verify contested confessions before they can be used against a defendant."
The complainants claimed that, after being subjected to torture, they were forced to sign or fingerprint statements whose contents they did not know, and that those statements were later used as central evidence in criminal proceedings against them. They were tried together with other Sahrawi defendants before a military court in 2013 and later before the Rabat Court of Appeal. The four complainants were eventually sentenced, two to life imprisonment and the other two to 25 years.
The Committee concluded that Morocco violated its obligations under the Convention against Torture, including by failing to ensure a prompt and impartial investigation into allegations of torture, effective safeguards against torture, to supervise detention and interrogation practices, to guarantee the right to complain, to provide redress, and to exclude evidence obtained through torture from judicial proceedings.
The Committee recalled its concerns about the Moroccan authorities' failure to conduct prompt, impartial and effective investigations into allegations of torture, and their continued use of statements obtained under torture as evidence in previously decided cases. In the present cases, the Committee considered that the recurrence of these shortcomings indicates that these are not isolated procedural irregularities, but rather a structural problem in the handling of cases concerning the dismantling of the Gdeim Izik camp.
"Morocco should take urgent corrective measures to ensure that similar violations do not occur again," Kessing said.
The Committee called on Morocco to conduct impartial and thorough investigations into the allegations of torture, in full compliance with the revised Istanbul Protocol, with a view to bringing those responsible to justice. It also urged the State Party to provide the complainants with full reparation, including fair and adequate compensation and rehabilitation.
It further requested that Morocco consider reviewing the complainants' criminal convictions and, where appropriate, quash them in accordance with domestic law. It also called on the authorities to ensure access to family members, lawyers and doctors of their choice, and to refrain from any pressure, intimidation or reprisals against them.
The four decisions are available online (Case 1135/2022; Case 1136/2022; Case 1156/2022; Case 1166/2023).
