Paris (France), June 17, 2026 (SPS) – In its issue issued on Wednesday, June 17, the French weekly Le Canard Unchaine devoted an article to the situation of Sahrawi political prisoner Naama Asfari and his companions from the Gdeim Izik group, denouncing the ongoing human rights violations committed by the Moroccan authorities against Sahrawi activists demanding the right to self-determination in Western Sahara.
Under the title “Sahrawi from Humanity,” the newspaper asserted that “people from Western Sahara are severely punished in Morocco if they struggle for the independence of their land.” It also touched on the open hunger strike that Naama Asfari initiated in Kenitra prison, where he has been imprisoned for sixteen years alongside eighteen other Sahrawi political detainees.
The newspaper also mentioned that Al-Naama Asfari’s wife, French citizen Claude Mangan, has been deprived of visits for several years, a situation that human rights organizations have repeatedly denounced.
According to Le Canar Oncini, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has on several occasions called for the immediate release of Sahrawi detainees from the Gdeim Izik group, while the United Nations Committee against Torture has condemned the practices of solitary confinement, acts of torture and extracting confessions under duress.
The French weekly also criticized the position of the French authorities towards Morocco, considering that the political rapprochement between Paris and Rabat should not lead to ignoring the situation of Sahrawi political detainees and the violations affecting basic rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
The publication of this article comes at a time when calls are intensifying from solidarity organizations, a number of French elected officials, and human rights defense associations, demanding the release of Naama Asfari and all Sahrawi political detainees from the Gdeim Izik group. (Was)
