Escalating Repression Will Only Strengthen the Sahrawi People’s Determination to Continue Their Struggle

  

Sahrawi human rights activists have condemned the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied part of Western Sahara amid international silence, stressing that escalating repression will only strengthen the Sahrawi people’s determination to continue their struggle until independence is achieved.

In this context, Sahrawi journalist and human rights activist Hassan Zerouali documented, in an article, the restrictions, surveillance, and repression carried out by the occupying forces in the streets of the occupied city of Dakhla, in what he described as a “desperate” attempt to intimidate Sahrawis.

Zerouali considered these actions to be “evidence of the occupation’s deep fear” of the Sahrawi people, who remain committed to their right to freedom and self-determination. He added that such repression would not be able to “extinguish the flame of national consciousness deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of the Sahrawi people and their legitimate right to independence.”

In this regard, he stressed that attempts at intimidation would only strengthen the Sahrawi people’s determination to continue their peaceful struggle and expose the violations committed by the Moroccan occupation. He stated: “For decades, the occupation has attempted to use fear as a means of silencing Sahrawis, but the people’s memory is stronger than all instruments of repression. The streets of occupied Dakhla and elsewhere will remain witnesses to the fact that the Sahrawi people have not, and will not, relinquish their right to freedom and independence.”

For his part, Abia Jamaa, Secretary-General of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara, condemned in an article the ongoing Moroccan repression since 1975, which he described as a daily reality experienced by the Sahrawi people under occupation. Fundamental freedoms are suppressed, while human rights activists face restrictions, bans, surveillance, arrests, and trials because of their peaceful positions and their defense of human rights and the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.

The human rights activist further argued that the responsibility of the international community should not be limited to issuing reports, but must extend to ensuring respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law, holding the Moroccan occupying power accountable for violations, protecting Sahrawi civilians and human rights defenders, and guaranteeing access to occupied Western Sahara for international observers, media outlets, and independent human rights organizations.

Abia Jamaa concluded that **“there can be no freedom under occupation, and no just and lasting solution to the Western Sahara issue without respect for the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination,”** stressing that repression will not deter the Sahrawi people from continuing their struggle for freedom and independence.