The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calls on Morocco to immediately release the Saharawi student and human rights defender Al-Hussein Al-Bachir Ibrahim (Hussein). 

This is clear from a decision (A/HRC/WGAD/63/2024) published yesterday. The working group states that his arrest is arbitrary and that his prison conditions are deplorable.

Hussein was arrested in January 2019 following his forcible deportation from Spain, where he had requested asylum. Upon arrival to Morocco, Hussein was detained, subjected to ill-treatment, denied access to legal counsel, and ultimately sentenced to 12 years in prison following proceedings marred by fair trial violations. Lawyer of Hussein, Professor Mads Andenas (KC), underlined that “whilst the UN body did not find that the detention in Spain was unlawful, the return of Hussein to Morocco, without an individualized assessment of his protection needs, raises serious concerns into the right to seek asylum and Spain’s obligations under international refugee law”. 

Whilst assessing the detention of Hussein in Morocco, the UN Working Group found grave violations of due process, including the usage of confessions and violations of the prohibition on torture, declaring also that the initial arrest of Hussein by Morocco was arbitrary. The opinion of the UN body reinforces growing international concern regarding the systemic targeting of Sahrawi human rights defenders by Morocco.

With this decision, the UN Working Group has developed, strengthened and clarified its censure of Morocco for the many and repeated violations of international law and human rights, as also reported by the UN Special Procedures (on Hussein, see AL MAR 2/2020, AL MAR 5/2020, AL 2/2023, A/76/143 and A/HRC/58/53). Referring to the UN Working Group's prior dealing with imprisoned Saharawi students and its decision of February 2020 (A/HRC/WGAD/57/2019), Hussein’s lawyer, Tone Sørfonn Moe, echoed that, “the latest decision of the UN body exposes the systematic nature of reprisals targeting Sahrawi youth and human rights defenders, underlining the need for urgent intervention to protect the next generation of human rights defenders in Western Sahara”.

The opinion itself was originally rendered on 13 November 2024, and only published this week after having been circulated to the concerned parties.

In a statement, the family of Hussein echoed the continued suffering of Hussein, decrying inhumane prison conditions and the isolation of Hussein in a Moroccan prison far away from his family. The Working Group on Human Rights in Occupied Western Sahara joins the call of the family, urging Morocco to immediately release Hussein from prison, whilst also urging Spain to acknowledge its role in the chain of events that led to Hussein’s unlawful detention and to take all available diplomatic measures to support his release.

Contact:  Tone Sørfonn Moe, legal counsel, tone@vest-sahara.no, Professor Mads Andenas (KC), legal counsel, mads.andenas@jus.uio.no