Sumar calls on the Government to demand Morocco release Sahrawi political prisoner Naama Asfari

Eduardo González The Sumar Plurinational Parliamentary Group has called on the Government to demand Morocco's "immediate and unconditional release" of Sahrawi political prisoner Naama Asfari, who has been imprisoned for 15 years in the Moroccan prison of Kenitra since the Moroccan assault on the Gdeim Izik protest camp. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has also called for his "immediate release" and for an "independent investigation into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment" to which he has allegedly been subjected. In a non-binding motion presented on July 16 by members of parliament Agustín Santos Maraver (former Spanish ambassador to the UN), Teslem Andala Ubbi (of Sahrawi origin and better known as Tesh Sidi), and Gerardo Pisarello Padros for debate in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sumar denounces the “continued pattern of systematic repression by the Kingdom of Morocco against the Sahrawi civilian population, particularly against those who peacefully defend the right to self-determination,” and the human rights violations suffered by members of the so-called “Gdeim Izik group,” such as “isolation in individual cells, ill-treatment, and systematic restrictions on fundamental rights such as healthcare and family visits.” “Among these cases, the case of Naama Asfari stands out. He is a renowned Sahrawi human rights defender, vice-president of the Committee for Freedoms and Respect for Human Rights in Western Sahara (CORELSO), and a member of the so-called Gdeim Izik Group,” and “he was arrested on November 7, 2010, one day before Moroccan forces dismantled the peaceful protest camp in Gdeim Izik.” According to Sumar (a junior partner in Pedro Sánchez’s coalition government), Asfari “remained missing for several days during his detention and reported being subjected to serious acts of torture and ill-treatment to obtain self-incriminating confessions.” “He was subsequently convicted by a military court and, after that sentence was overturned, was again sentenced by a civilian court to 30 years in prison, in a proceeding widely criticized by international organizations due to the lack of due process, the use of confessions obtained under torture, and the lack of an effective investigation into these allegations,” the motion continues. “The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in its Opinion No. 23/2023, concluded that Naama Asfari’s deprivation of liberty is arbitrary, urged the Kingdom of Morocco to proceed with his immediate release, recognize his right to effective redress, and independently investigate the allegations of torture and ill-treatment. More than two years later, this opinion remains unimplemented,” it adds. Furthermore, “during his more than fifteen years of imprisonment, Asfari has repeatedly reported suffering isolation, arbitrary restrictions on communications, medical neglect, disciplinary reprisals and conditions incompatible with the United Nations Mandela Rules for the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty,” it continues. On June 8, 2026, Naama Asfari began an indefinite hunger strike to demand compliance with the ruling of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, denounce the prison conditions of Sahrawi political prisoners, and demand their transfer to Western Sahara to facilitate contact with their families. After 47 days, Asfari himself announced on July 24 the suspension of the indefinite hunger strike following the opening of a dialogue channel by the Moroccan prison administration regarding his humanitarian and legal demands, as reported by the League for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons. For all these reasons, Sumar urges the Government to “call upon the Kingdom of Morocco for the immediate and unconditional release of Naama Asfari and all Sahrawi political prisoners, in compliance with Opinion No. 23/2023 of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and with the other resolutions and recommendations of international human rights mechanisms.” It also urges the Government to “promote, both bilaterally and within the European Union and the United Nations, the necessary diplomatic initiatives to guarantee compliance with said opinion and to foster a response from the international community (…) to the situation suffered by Sahrawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons, in order to end the measures of isolation, dispersal, harassment and ill-treatment, restrictions on visits, and medical neglect.” The situation in Western Sahara is the main point of international friction between the two components of the coalition government, the PSOE and Sumar, ever since Pedro Sánchez's government unexpectedly endorsed Morocco's proposed autonomy plan in early 2022. Throughout this period, the government has attempted to evade all parliamentary questions and initiatives from Sumar and other groups related to human rights in Morocco or Western Sahara.

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