Mr. Mohamed Hnini Ruh Bani, better known as Mohamed Bani, was born in 1969 in El Aaiún, the capital of occupied Western Sahara. Married and father of five children, he led an ordinary family life in this city marked by a prolonged occupation and a climate of repression. He was among the few Sahrawis who had secured stable employment, despite systematic discrimination.
His life was brutally upended on 8 November 2010. In the context of the violent dismantling of the peaceful Gdeim Izik protest camp, he was arrested by Moroccan forces. He was subsequently tortured and held in secret detention in Royal Gendarmerie buildings, before being transferred to Rabat to be tried before a military court—a jurisdiction considered incompetent and illegal under international law.
Initially sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court in February 2013, his sentence was maintained on appeal by the Rabat (then Salé) Court of Appeal on 19 July 2017, following a second, this time civilian, trial.
International organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have described these trials as unfair, relying primarily on confessions obtained under torture—in violation of Article 15 of the Convention against Torture.
He is currently detained in Aït Melloul 2 prison (near Agadir, Morocco), over 750 km from occupied Western Sahara and his family, constituting a violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forced transfer of protected persons from an occupied territory.
For over fifteen years, Mohamed Bani has endured arbitrary detention in Moroccan prisons, far from his family who suffers from his absence and the imposed restrictions. His case symbolizes the persistence of injustice suffered by Sahrawi activists defending their people’s right to self-determination.
The peaceful Gdeim Izik protest camp (October-November 2010), a symbol of Sahrawi resistance against discrimination and occupation, gathered over 20,000 people. Its violent dismantling by Moroccan forces on 8 November 2010 led to clashes, the arrest of hundreds, and the death of several Sahrawis.
| https://ligaproderechoshumanos.org/baby/ | Baby Hamadi Buyema (or El Boukhari Ahmed Barik Buyema, also known as Babi Hamadi Bouyema) – A young man holding Spanish nationality. According to Moroccan authorities, he died on 8 November 2010, during the violent dismantling of the Gdeim Izik camp, after being run over by a security forces vehicle. He was buried without his family’s consent. Family members, supported by the Spanish Human Rights League, presented a complaint to Spanish courts. This contributed to the opening of an investigation at the Spanish Audiencia Nacional, leading notably to the historic Sentence No. 40/2014 (dated 4 July 2014) by Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska, which affirmed Spain’s persisting responsibility as the administering power of Western Sahara and paved the way for genocide prosecutions |
| Najim El Garhi (or Nayem El Garhi) – A Sahrawi child (approximately 14 years old). He was shot and killed by the Moroccan army on 24 October 2010 while returning to the camp to join his mother and bring her supplies. His case symbolizes the violence against civilians, including minors. |
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member organization, the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights (OMDH), express their deep concern following the death of a young man killed by security forces on Monday, October 25, near El Aaiún, in Western Sahara. https://www.fidh.org/fr/regions/maghreb-moyen-orient/maroc/8674-la-fidh-deplore-la-mort-de-feydel-souidi |
Mohamed Hnini Ruh Bani did not directly participate in the camp, he just visited it to see family members on 7 November 2010. Prevented from leaving the site during the military siege, he was arrested during the assault and accused of running over an officer. He suffered repeated torture and ill-treatment, deprivation of medical care, harassment of his family, and prolonged isolation. As of 2024, reports still cite deliberate medical negligence (refusal of bone and joint examinations despite existing medical records) and racial discrimination against the Sahrawi prisoners of the group in Aït Melloul 2. He has participated in several hunger strikes to protest these inhumane conditions. As the sole provider for a family of six, he leaves behind his wife, Ghali Aajna, who testifies to the suffering endured: rare and brief visits (sometimes limited to five minutes after journeys of over 750 km), deprivation of care and recreation.
In October 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (Opinion A/HRC/WGAD/2023/23) declared his detention (and that of the Gdeim Izik group) illegal, demanding his immediate release, compensation, and prosecution of those responsible. In September 2025, the UN Committee against Torture specifically condemned Mohamed Bani’s case for torture, ill-treatment, and the use of forced confessions, again calling for his immediate release. Despite these binding UN decisions, his detention continues into 2026, constituting a challenge to international law.
https://docs.un.org/fr/A/HRC/WGAD/2023/23
We urgently call on the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the entire international community to intensify pressure to:
- Ensure immediate access to adequate medical care;
- Secure his immediate and unconditional release, as well as that of the other Gdeim Izik group prisoners;
- End impunity by investigating acts of torture and respecting Morocco’s international obligations, including bringing the perpetrators to justice and respecting the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.
The prolonged detention of Mohamed Hnini Ruh Bani and his companions symbolizes an injustice in a territory under occupation, already described as persistent by the UN General Assembly in 1979 (See Resolution 34/37 of 14 December 1979).
