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SHADOW OF IMPUNITYTORTURE IN MOROCCO AND WESTERN SAHARA21no medical certificate. I was still dizzy and vomiting but they sent me home.” 16The Special Rapporteur on torture and the WGAD both noted a similar trend of allegedinformal detention in security vehicles accompanied by torture or other ill-treatment inWestern Sahara, following country visits in 2012 and 2013 respectively. 17 In their responseto these UN bodies, the Moroccan authorities have denied the occurrence of such abuses:“Concerning the other particularly serious allegation reported by the Special Rapporteur on‘the alleged abandonment of victims in rural areas after subjecting them to violence’, theMoroccan authorities consider that this is an unfounded allegation... Moroccan authoritiesand national institutions, including CNDH, national and international NGOs, treaty bodiescomplaint mechanisms, such as Special Procedures, have never received any allegations,information or testimonies whatsoever concerning ‘abandonment in rural areas’.” 18Many of the students above who were presented to court after garde à vue detention toldAmnesty International that they told prosecutors and investigating judges of the violence towhich they had been subjected. In a few cases, courts ordered medical examinations, but noinvestigations were opened in spite of the availability of witnesses, including co-detaineesand students who saw the reportedly violent arrests on campus. Perpetrators were notdisciplined, prosecuted, or held to account, lawyers told Amnesty International.Amnesty International has also seen copies of complaints filed by some Sahrawi victims andtheir relatives with relevant judicial authorities as well as regional commissions of the CNDHwith regards to reported torture or other ill-treatment in security vehicles without formalarrest. Likewise, Amnesty International was unable to confirm whether or not any of thecomplaints resulted in investigations, disciplinary proceedings, prosecutions or convictions.16Interview, Smara, 12 June 2014.17Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, Mission to Morocco, UN Doc. A/HRC/22/53/Add.2 (2013)para. 63; a similar observation is included in Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,Addendum, Mission to Morocco, UN Doc. A /HRC/27/48/Add.5 (2014) para. 64.18Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, Addendum, Mission to Morocco: comments by the Stateon the report of the Special Rapporteur, UN Doc. A/HRC/22/53/Add.5 (2013) para. 62; Rapport duGroupe de travail sur la détention arbitraire, Additif, Mission au Maroc: commentaires de l’Etat sur lerapport du Groupe de travail sur la détention arbitraire, UN Doc. A /HRC/27/48/Add.7 (2014) para. 112(French only).Index: MDE 29/001/2015 Amnesty International May 2015