Paris (France), June 21, 2026 (SPS) – The Association of Friends of the Sahrawi Republic of France (RASD) renewed its full and strong support for all the militant steps that will be taken by Naama Asfari and the Sahrawi political prisoners, who have been facing denial from the prison administration and the Moroccan state for 15 years.
This came in a statement by the organization three weeks after Mr. Naama Asfari went on an open hunger strike in Kenitra prison in Morocco. The organization notes that the battle he is waging under the slogan “The Battle of Dignity” came after he went on three 48-hour hunger strikes during the month of May without any response to his demand calling for the implementation of the decisions of the Committee against Torture and the advisory opinion of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
In addition, the organization points out that the Moroccan state has not implemented any of the measures recommended in the decisions of the UN Committee and in the opinion of the 2023 working group, which condemned arbitrary detention and demanded the release of Sahrawi prisoners belonging to the Gdeim Izik group, who were subjected to harsh sentences based on confessions extracted under torture, according to the findings of the United Nations Committee against Torture.
The prisoners also denounce – the statement narrows – gross medical negligence and systematic acts of reprisal. Which was recently denounced and described in the 2025 report entitled: “No treatment…no visitation…no justice”, issued by the League for the Protection of Sahrawi Political Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons (LPPS).
The organization’s statement stated that Al-Naama Asfari’s family was able to communicate with him, where he described the circumstances under which he was on a hunger strike. He is detained in the Kenitra prison clinic, and is only allowed one hour a day to walk. And to keep some books, but without a lamp, table, or chair. After three weeks, he lost 5 kilograms of weight.
The Association of Friends of the Sahrawi Republic also reiterated that, as it has been for years, it stands with Naama Asfari in his “battle for dignity,” and calls for the release of all Sahrawi prisoners from the Gdeim Izik group.
At the conclusion of its statement, the organization concluded that the fifteen years of arbitrary detention are so dangerous that it requires states parties, including France, as well as United Nations institutions and non-governmental organizations working in the field of human rights, to take steps and demand that the Moroccan government and state provide explanations, in order to put an end to this lawless situation. (SPA)
