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streets until he reached a well-lit area, where he said he recognized the person as
Tahlil, before the fleeing suspect eluded him. According to the report, Tahlil is
“known to the security services in Boujdour as one of those who incite
disturbances.” Policeman Fennouche said he recognized Tahlil from his features and
clothing. The report identifies no other witness linking the suspect to the attack. 94
The police did not arrest Tahlil on the day of the crime. Rather, he remained at liberty
and left Morocco legally for Mauritania in May. The prosecutor’s report states that
the police arrested Tahlil on July 19, 2007 at a border checkpost and presented him
to the prosecutor on July 21.
However, Bazaid Lahmad, Tahlil’s lawyer, says that the real arrest date was actually
several days earlier than the one recorded by the police and the prosecutor. He
maintains that his client had been kept in garde-à-vue detention for an entire week,
well beyond the three-day limit allowed by the law. Hoping to prove this, Tahlil’s
defense team asked the trial judge to require the police to produce Tahlil’s
confiscated passport, arguing that the date of the Moroccan entry stamp in it would
reflect the real date the authorities had taken him into custody. 95 Demonstrating that
his garde à vue detention had been illegally prolonged might cast doubt on Tahlil’s
“confession” to the police, which he was attempting to repudiate at his trial. It would
also show that Tahlil had left Morocco legally since the incident, even though a
policeman had supposedly identified him fleeing the scene of the crime.
But the court did not order the police to produce Tahlil’s passport. Nor did it act on
defense requests to summon for questioning the policeman who allegedly identified
Tahlil fleeing the scene of the crime, even though he was the sole eyewitness linking
Tahlil to it. 96
The main evidence against Tahlil was his own signed “confession” to the police. At
his trial, Tahlil repudiated this statement, saying he had falsely confessed only
94 Report by prosecutor Th. Samir Arsalan, El-Ayoun Court of Appeals, referring case to trial, July 24, 2007.
95 Human Rights Watch interview with Bazaid Lahmad, El-Ayoun, March 8, 2008, and Herzig, “Mission d’Observation Judiciaire
à Laâyoune les 3, 4, et 5 décembre 2007.”
96 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Bazaid Lahmad, October 10, 2008.
Human Rights in Western Sahara and Tindouf 48