The Saharawi activist Leila Leili was on 10 February pulled by her hair by Moroccan police when she was demonstrating for the UN to report on human rights violations.
The demonstration in El Aaiún on 10 February was organised by a group of human rights defenders. They demanded the liberation of political prisoners and the inclusion of a human rights mandate for the UN operation MINURSO.
The demonstration only lasted for a few minutes before Moroccan police, as always, attacked the demonstrators with violence, leading to several injured. Leila Leili was one of those that the police apprehended. The episode was caught by a video film posted on Youtube this week. The video shows Leila pulled along the street by her hair by civilian dressed police oficers, while another civilian dressed policeman kicked her.
MINURSO is the only modern UN operation without a mandate to report on human rights violations they are witness to. Morocco's main ally in the UN Security Council, every year refuses to allow human rights being part of the operation's work task.
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