Sahrawi protesters recount recent abuses
The people of Western Sahara have been seeking independence for decades and still suffer for their efforts.
LAAYOUNE, Western Sahara — Though the United Nations’ peace mission in Western Sahara lies lifeless, the struggle of the Sahrawi people is very much alive.
As the indigenous Sahrawis strive for independence from Morocco, progress and setbacks are intertwined. In July came progress: Morocco’s highest appeals court ordered a new trial for 24 Sahrawi activists who had been arrested after a mass protest in 2010 at the Gdeim Izik camp. Yet on Aug. 21, political activist Sukain Jad Ahlu was leading a peaceful protest at the Fem El Oud beach when she was attacked by police and badly beaten.
Ahlu, the head of the Future Forum for Sahrawi Women, told Al-Monitor, “I was peacefully demonstrating and repeating slogans calling for an independent Western Sahara when the Moroccan gendarme forces intervened against me. They beat me very hard on my back. I was personally targeted and my flag was confiscated.”
Ahlu, who had spent 12 years behind bars as a political prisoner, said she still suffers from the recent beating. “I cannot even move to pray,” she said.
