The urgent situation of Naâma Asfari, a dedicated human rights defender imprisoned in Morocco for the past 15 years, has reached a critical point. On June 19, 2026, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a collaboration between the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), calls for immediate intervention concerning his ongoing hunger strike. Asfari, who has been detained in Kenitra prison, is known for his unwavering commitment to advocating for the independence of Western Sahara and serves as the vice-president of the Committee for Liberties and Respect for Human Rights in Western Sahara (CORELSO).
Naâma Asfari commenced an indefinite hunger strike on June 8, 2026, demanding the implementation of Opinion 23/2023 issued by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. This opinion declared his conviction arbitrary and urged Morocco to release him immediately and compensate him, while also calling for a thorough and independent investigation into the circumstances of his detention. Through his hunger strike, Asfari not only protests against his unjust imprisonment but also highlights the inhumane and degrading conditions faced by Sahrawi prisoners, inadequate medical care, and the systematic reprisals they endure within Moroccan prisons. He further demands the transfer of prisoners to Western Sahara to facilitate family visits.
Previously, in May 2026, Asfari had engaged in three separate hunger strikes, each lasting 48 hours, to bring attention to these pressing issues. His lawyer had submitted a petition to prison authorities outlining his demands, which went unacknowledged. Asfari's conviction, handed down in 2017 by the Salé Court of Appeals, resulted in a 30-year sentence for charges including 'association of wrongdoers' and involvement in violent acts against public agents, all based on confessions extracted under torture during an unfair trial. This conviction stemmed from his participation in a protest camp in 2010, which drew around 20,000 Sahrawis demanding social and economic equality and reaffirming their right to self-determination. His arrest occurred just a day before the camp's dismantling, along with 25 other human rights defenders known as the Gdeim Izik Group, of which several have been released while 18 remain incarcerated. The UN Committee against Torture, in its decision No. 606/2014, recognized that Asfari's confessions were inadmissible due to being obtained under torture, confirming that his detention conditions amount to acts of torture and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.
The Observatory expresses grave concern over Asfari's deteriorating health after 11 days of hunger strike, especially considering that the Committee against Torture condemned Morocco in 2022 for restricting prisoners' access to medical care. Additionally, his imprisonment outside Western Sahara severely hampers family visitation; his wife, Claude Mangin, a French national, has been barred from entering Morocco since 2019 under the pretext of 'threat to public order,' preventing her from visiting her husband.
This protracted detention is part of a broader pattern of criminalizing Sahrawi human rights defenders. The Observatory previously voiced concerns about Asfari's ten-year imprisonment and the arbitrary detention of journalists such as Mohamed Lamin Haddi and El Bachir Khadda, alongside the harassment and intimidation faced by members of the Sahrawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA), which advocates for human rights in the occupied territory of Western Sahara.
It is vital to note that Western Sahara remains the last non-self-governing territory in Africa, under Moroccan control, with its right to self-determination reaffirmed by the 1975 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. This right is enshrined in the UN Charter and the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Morocco, as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), is obligated to ensure the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association, as well as the right to a fair trial without undue restriction.
The Observatory firmly condemns the arbitrary detention and treatment of Naâma Asfari and all members of the Gdeim Izik Group, asserting that their imprisonment solely aims to punish them for the legitimate exercise of their human rights advocacy.
We urge Moroccan authorities to unconditionally release Naâma Asfari, to conduct an immediate, independent, and impartial investigation into the acts of torture and mistreatment against him, and to provide adequate redress as per the recommendations of the Committee against Torture and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Morocco must also cease all forms of harassment, including legal actions, against Asfari and all Sahrawi human rights defenders.
To take action, we urge you to write to the Moroccan authorities, advocating for: (1) Guaranteeing the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Naâma Asfari and all remaining Gdeim Izik group members; (2) Immediate and unconditional release of Naâma Asfari, Gdeim Izik members, and all Sahrawi human rights defenders currently detained; (3) Ending all forms of harassment and intimidation against Asfari and the Sahrawi human rights community; (4) Ensuring strict adherence to fundamental freedoms, particularly the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association as guaranteed by international human rights law.
For further information and to report actions taken, please contact the Observatory at the provided emergency hotline.
As reported by fidh.org.
