Two imprisoned Sahrawi students Salah Eddine Essabar and Ibrahim Babit sent two letters to the international community, in which they documented the grave violations they are subjected to inside “Ait Meloul 2” prison, near Agadir, Morocco, demanding immediate release for all Sahrawi civilian prisoners in Moroccan prisons. The Moroccan occupation authorities issued on December 17 unjust sentences against these two students, condemning them to 8 months of effective imprisonment, and a heavy fine on fabricated charges, after their defense of Sahrawi peoples’ right to self-determination. In his letter, Salah Eddine Essabar reported that he is being held in a cramped cell, subjected to systematic repression, describing the mistreatment of Sahrawi prisoners as institutionalized policy. He underlined that the occupation practices against the detainees “various forms of discriminatory treatment, whether from the jailers or from the rest of the prisoners who are incited against them, not to mention the restriction of visits, the deprivation of communication, the deliberate medical neglect and psychological warfare and pressure to retract their firm positions.” He emphasized that “the prison administration has turned into an executive tool in the hands of security agencies, implementing their instructions and translating them into daily punitive measures,” adding that his imprisonment and that of his colleague “is not an isolated incident, but rather a link in a long chain of targeting that began last year inside the university through fabricated malicious complaints.”For his part, Ibrahim Babit revealed in his letter that the occupation adopts a “systematic targeting approach” inside the prison, considering Sahrawi students as voices that must be subdued by any means, and not as detainees, which is evident in the “racist treatment, dire living conditions, and deprivation of the slightest rights.” He also emphasized that “Sahrawi people’s firm commitment to their right to freedom and independence can neither be shaken by harshness of cold cells, nor defeated by vengeful sentences.”

Source: The North Africa Journal December 25, 2025 08:40 UTC