Western Sahara: UPDATE - Temporary release of Ms Dagja Lachgar while six other human rights defenders declare hunger strike in detention
On 28 January 2010, Saharawi human rights defender Dagja Lachgar was temporarily released following three months and twenty days in detention in Sale military prison, Morocco. Human rights defender Ali Salem Tamek, Brahim Dahane, Ahmad Anasiri, Yahdih Ettarrouzi, Saleh Lebayhi, and Rachid Sghayar, who remain in detention in Sale prison, have declared that they will commence a 48-hour hunger strike on 4 February 2009, in protest against the ill-treatment that they are subjected to in detention.
Further Information
Dagja Lachgar was originally arrested on 8 October 2009 at Mohamed V Airport in Casablanca, Morocco, along with six human rights defenders from Western Sahara. The six defenders are; Ali Salem Tamek, first Vice-President of the Saharawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA); Brahim Dahane, President of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights (ASVDH); Ahmad Anasiri, General Secretary of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Smara; Yahdih Ettarrouzi; Saleh Lebayhi, President of the Forum for the Protection of Saharawi Children; and Rachid Sghayar.
Original Front Line Appeal on behalf of these human rights defenders