She travelled to Morocco to be present at the trial against her husband, who is falsely changed by a Moroccan court with a series of charges. Today, French Claude Mangin was arrested too -and she is now threatened with expulsion from Morocco.
The French Claude Mangin and her husband Enaama Asfari are close friends of the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara.
This morning, she was arrested by civilian clothed police in Morocco. So was her father, and Frédérique Lellouche from the French NGO L'Association contre la torture et pour l'abolition de la Peine de mort.
This text was released by the Sahrawi human rights organisation ASVDH Thursday night:
El-Ayoune - Western Sahara
Thursday, April 24, 2008
French Activists arrested at Tan-Tan south of Morocco
Mrs. Claude MANGIN, wife of the Sahrawi activist Mr. Ennaama ASFARI, Mrs. Frédérique LELLOUCHE, mission Maghreb ACAT (Christians Action the Abolition of Torture), Mrs. Mureille BRUN and Mr. Pierre-Alain ROUSSEN, are visiting Morocco and Western Sahara. This French group, who arrived yesterday Wednesday, April 23 2008 to the town of Tan-Tan, was all the time by pursued by police officers. Today Thursday, April 24, 2008, the group was arrested at 10: 45 GMT, in front of Mr. Abdi ASFARI's house (father of Mr. Ennaama ASFARI) and was taken to the police. Since then, this group is subjected to interrogation and has even been threatened to be expelled for supporting the "enemies of Morocco". The Embassy of France in Rabat and French consulates in Agadir and Marrakech have been notified but until this group is still at the police station. Ms. LELLOUCHE was informed that the group may be released but Ms. Claude MANGIN will be deported because she is accused of supporting the "enemies of Morocco". Likewise, Mr. ASFARI Abdi was also questioned by police and subjected to exhaustive questioning about the intentions of the French groups visit to Tan-Tan and cities of Western Sahara. He was released after more than an hour of questioning.
UN body calls for the release of imprisoned Saharawi student
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Two Norwegians Are Now Being Deported from Occupied Western Sahara
Two more Norwegians, who travelled to occupied Western Sahara to learn about Morocco’s controversial energy projects in the territory, were detained by Moroccan police this afternoon and deported.
Norwegians deported from occupied Western Sahara - wanted to learn about renewable energy
Today, 25 Moroccan police officers showed up to expel two Norwegians from occupied Western Sahara. The two had traveled to learn what the Sahrawis think about Morocco's controversial renewable energy projects on occupied land.
UN committee highlights Moroccan impunity in occupied Western Sahara
Sahrawi civil society welcomes a new report from the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance, and urges exhumations and identification of victims in the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara.