Demolition of Homes and Horrific Attacks on Sahrawi Elders in Occupied Laayoune and Suburbs
The Committee on Settlements, the Military Partition Wall, and Mines of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA) is following with grave concern the repeated and serious attacks carried out by the Moroccan occupying forces against Sahrawi civilians in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, which constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights conventions.
This concern was heightened on 22 April 2025, when the Moroccan occupying forces carried out a mass demolition operation targeting a group of homes in the Zamila al-Ghozlain area of Tadakhsit (east of the occupied Laayoune airport), using bulldozers. This confirms the continued demolition, burning, destruction, and illegal seizure of Sahrawi civilian property, which constitutes a form of forced displacement and a clear violation of Article (49) of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.
In connection with this crime against humanity, on 24 April 2025, in the same area, a group of four Sahrawi civilians, members of the "Sahrawi Coordination of the Three Valleys," were subjected to physical and verbal assaults by members of the Moroccan occupation police, who abused and beat them with sticks, resulting in injuries of varying severity. They were subsequently transferred to the Hassan Ben Mehdi Hospital in occupied Laayoune.
The individuals are:
Sidi Ahmed Bouhda (54 years old), who suffered injuries to his ribs, kidneys, and back, and who began complaining of dizziness and sudden loss of balance due to high blood pressure. His Samsung mobile phone was confiscated.
Abdullah Farah (51 years old), who suffered injuries to his back, face, head, and right leg, and whose REDMI 17 mobile phone and approximately 500 Moroccan dirhams were confiscated. Muhammad Fadhel Al-Shihab (48 years old), injured in the back, head and kidneys.
Lamam al-Talmidhi (79 years old), injured in the head, neck and back, suffered a severe fainting spell, and his Samsung mobile phone was confiscated and all four tires of his car were slashed with sharp tools.
In a statement by Sahrawi human rights defender Sidi Ahmed Bouhda, he confirmed that he was with all of these victims on board a Toyota GX vehicle on a mission related to monitoring, documenting and meeting a group of Sahrawi civilians, whose homes were demolished in this area, before they were surprised by the targeting of all of them by a police unit and another unit of police officers wearing masks on their faces.
They were on board two four-wheel drive vehicles, armed with bladed weapons and sticks, and they all subjected them to severe beatings, constituting a clear violation of Articles (7) and (9) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and guarantee protection from arbitrary arrest or detention.
Sidi Ahmed Bouhda added that he was subjected to a second physical and verbal assault not far from the site of the first assault. This culminated in the confiscation of his mobile phone by members of the Moroccan occupation police force, supervised by officers and police personnel known for their torture and abuse of human rights defenders, bloggers, former political prisoners, and Sahrawi civilians. This put his health at risk after he fainted due to high blood pressure, as he suffers from diabetes.
Based on the above, the Committee declares the following:
Implement and implement international humanitarian law in Western Sahara. Empowering the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with the United Nations Charter, taking into account the use of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as recognition of this right guaranteed by international human rights law.
Immediate intervention to protect Sahrawi civilians and stop the crimes and violations committed against them by the Moroccan occupying force.
Working to hold perpetrators of crimes against humanity accountable, in line with the principle of non-impunity, and mobilizing international judicial and legal mechanisms.
Laayoune/Occupied Western Sahara, 27 April 2025.
Committee on Settler Colonies, the Military Separation Wall, and Mines.
Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA)
Original statement (in Arabic)
Photo: Aftermath of Moroccan occupation forces demolition campaign in Zamila al-Ghozlain area of Tadakhsit. Source: SAUSA.
