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individual policemen are chronic abusers. Since the incidents described in this
report, authorities reportedly transferred abou al-Hassan to Benslimane and
Kammouri to Tantan. Annouche reportedly continues to serve in El-Ayoun. We have
no information suggesting that any of them was disciplined in connection with these
complaints. When Human Rights Watch presented to Moroccan authorities a sample
of citizen complaints naming these officers, the authorities dismissed these
complaints in their entirety (see Appendix 2).
Case Studies
Several youths, both in El-Ayoun and in Smara, provided testimony about the police
detaining them, driving them to an isolated location, and then beating them as a
form of “summary punishment” for their suspected participation in street protests in
favor of Sahrawi self-determination.
El-Mehdi Ez-Zai’ar
El-Mehdi ez-Zai’ar, a twenty year-old resident of Haï al-Qasm in El-Ayoun, describes
what happened to him on January 22, 2007:
At about eight o’clock in the evening, I was walking in Haï Katalonia
[the “Catalonia” neighborhood] with a friend. A large police van
stopped and a policeman dressed in civilian clothes stopped me and
asked my name. Then he and a group of policemen in plainclothes put
us in a car and blindfolded and handcuffed us. He asked me who had
given me [Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic] flags and pamphlets,
even though I wasn’t carrying any. I said I didn’t have anything to do
with anything like that, and they started beating me.
The police drove me to Oued es-Saguia [a wadi, or dry riverbed, in the
desert outside the city]. They took off my clothes, poured cold water on
my body, and hit me with clubs. They asked again where I had gotten
flags and pamphlets. I said I had nothing to do with flags or pamphlets.
They threatened to rape me with their batons. I tried to keep them off
me but I was in handcuffs and could not keep them from poking me
65 Human Rights Watch December 2008