27/09/2025
Moroccan Authorities detained 7 Seven Saharawi Student Activists in Agadir, Retaliation
Equipe Media Agadir, Morocco
26/09/2025
Seven Saharawi student activists were detained on Tuesday by security agencies in Morocco in what fellow activists have called a retaliatory crackdown aimed at silencing those who were expressing dissent. The detention is of students who are activists and who have been holding activities in solidarity with Saharawi political prisoners as well as participating in the funeral of a recognized human rights defender.
They were arrested by plainclothes police in a black Clio car and a police van, Equipe Media Saharawi news website reports. The operation was carried out outside the Faculty of Law in Agadir, which reportedly filed the complaint leading to the arrests.
In an Equipe Media telephone interview, Saharawi student activist Osama Bchiri said the arrests are an overt act of intimidation. He attributed the actions of the authorities to the activities of the students themselves, including attending the funeral of Ibrahm Sabbar, who was a prominent Saharawi human rights activist who died last month and was laid to rest in Legsabi, southern Morocco.
"This arrest is intimidation of the activists with the aim of silencing them," said Bchiri.
The crackdown is also understood to be a direct response to the activities of the students in raising awareness for the "Gdeim Izik" group, Saharawi political detainees jailed for over 15 years. Their case has attracted international support, especially through French activist Claude Mangin's campaign in which she has battled tirelessly on behalf of her husband, Naama Asfari, and his 18 co-defendants. Mangin's campaign has been taken from Paris to El Aaiun, the capital city of Western Sahara.
Three of the seven are released later in the same day after their cellular phones were checked. But four remain detained at the headquarters of a nearby police station. They have been identified as:
Brahim Babaït, third-year Law.
Salah Sabbar, third-year Law.
El Hafed Biraman, second-year Law.
Nourdin Anaflous, second-year Finance.
The arrest has also strained ties between the Saharawi student community of Agadir, who see the action as part of an all-out trend towards arresting campaigners for self-determination and human rights in Western Sahara.
The Moroccan authorities have not issued any formal announcement of the charges against the arrested students.