Paris (France), June 19, 2026 (SPS) – The French Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples (MRAP) announced its full solidarity with the Sahrawi political prisoner and human rights defender Naama Asfari, who is on an open hunger strike under the slogan “The Battle of Dignity,” calling on the Moroccan authorities to respect their international obligations and release him.
In a statement issued on Wednesday and published on Friday, the movement called on the President of the French Republic and the French government to demand that Morocco implement the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and respect the decisions issued by the United Nations Committee against Torture and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, relating to the detainees of the Gdeim Izik group.
She confirmed that Naama Asfari has been on an open hunger strike since June 8 to protest his continued detention inside Moroccan territory, and to demand the implementation of the decisions of the UN bodies that approved his right, and an end to what he described as a violation of international humanitarian law.
The statement recalled that the United Nations Committee against Torture concluded, in its decision issued in December 2016, that Naama Asfari had been subjected to torture and ill-treatment, and called on Morocco to compensate him fairly and ensure the protection of him and his family members from any acts of revenge or intimidation.
The movement also denounced the Moroccan authorities’ continued disregard for the opinions and decisions issued by United Nations mechanisms, noting that Sahrawi detainees from the Gdeim Izik group are still detained in prisons hundreds of kilometers away from their families, and are subjected, according to the statement, to inhuman and degrading treatment, in addition to depriving some of them of family visits, including Naama Asfari, whose French wife, Claude Monjean, is still prohibited from visiting him.
The statement indicated that Al-Nama Asfari was arrested in connection with the events of the Gdeim Izik camp in 2010, and was sentenced to thirty years in prison, after two military and civil trials, which the movement said did not meet the standards of a fair trial, and he is currently serving his sentence in Kenitra prison.
At the conclusion of its statement, the French movement reiterated that Western Sahara remains a non-self-governing territory on the United Nations decolonization agenda, considering that the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention apply to the territory, requiring that Sahrawis be treated as protected persons and not be transferred or detained within the territory of the occupying state. (SPA)
