Chahid El Hafed and Occupied El Aaiún, July 9, 2026
The Association of Families of Sahrawi Detainees and Disappeared (AFAPREDESA) follows with grave concern the critical health situation of Sahrawi political prisoner Enaâma Asfari, who has been on an open-ended hunger strike since June 8, 2026, at the central prison of Kenitra, Morocco, over two thousand kilometers away from his family and his occupied homeland.
Enaâma Asfari (56 years old) is a prominent human rights defender and vice-president of the Sahrawi Commission for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Western Sahara (CORELSO). His father, Abdi Moussa Asfari, was forcibly abducted and subjected to enforced disappearance for nearly 16 years in secret Moroccan detention centers, due to his struggle for the liberation of Western Sahara and for the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence.
Enaâma Asfari has spent more than 15 years in arbitrary detention, during which he has suffered systematic torture, ill-treatment, prolonged solitary confinement, deliberate deprivation of adequate medical care, as well as a ban on family visits. His wife, Ms. Claude Mangin (of French nationality), has not been able to visit him since 2018 and remains barred from entering the Kingdom of Morocco.
It should be recalled that Enaâma Asfari was arrested 13 hours before the violent dismantling of the Gdeim Izik camp by Moroccan forces. This peaceful protest camp, organized from October 10 to November 8, 2010, constituted the largest collective and peaceful expression of the Sahrawi people’s rejection of Moroccan occupation and of their claim to sovereignty over the naturals resources of their country, looted by the occupier with the support of multinational corporations and the European Union.
AFAPREDESA demands an immediate response to Enaâma Asfari’s legitimate demands, including:
- The immediate implementation of Opinion No. 23/2023 of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which deemed his detention arbitrary and demanded the immediate release of all members of the Gdeim Izik group;
- The provision of independent and urgent medical care under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC);
- His immediate transfer to a neutral hospital or to a prison near his family in Western Sahara, pending his release;
- The immediate lifting of his solitary confinement;
- The authorization of regular and unrestricted visits by his wife and family members;
- Access to the prison for international observers, in particular the ICRC and the relevant United Nations mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur against torture, whose visit has been postponed sine die on two occasions this year 2026.
AFAPREDESA holds the Moroccan occupying State fully responsible for any further deterioration of Enaâma Asfari’s state of health or for his loss of life.
It should be recalled that under United Nations General Assembly resolutions 34/37 (1979) and 35/19 (1980), the presence of the Kingdom of Morocco in Western Sahara is qualified as a persistent occupation. AFAPREDESA urges the latter to put an end to it, as Mauritania did in 1979 by withdrawing from the territory following the historic Algiers agreement signed with the Polisario Front.
AFAPREDESA also reminds Spain of its legal duty to protect Sahrawi civilians, in its capacity as administering power of the territory of Western Sahara (in accordance with Articles 73 and 74 of the United Nations Charter), a status reaffirmed by numerous judicial decisions, including Order 40/2014 of Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Order 1/2015 of Judge Pablo Ruz.
Sentence 40/2014 of the National Court (President Fernando Grande-Marlaska)
Full PDF: Auto Nº 40/2014 – Audiencia Nacional
In this sentence, the Criminal Chamber considers Spain as the administering power of Western Sahara.
Sentence 1/2015 of Judge Pablo Ruz (April 9, 2015)
Explanatory brochure with extracts from the order (including summary and context): Download PDF brochure: Descargar folleto PDF
In this order, Judge Pablo Ruz (Central Investigating Court No. 5) prosecutes 11 senior Moroccan officials for genocide, illegal detentions, torture and enforced disappearances against the Sahrawi population.
AFAPREDESA denounces the silence and complicity of the European Union and the United States of America, whose attitude encourages the occupying power, the Kingdom of Morocco, in its contempt for the decisions of UN mechanisms and international law in Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa.
Urgent appeal to the international community:
- United Nations and Security Council, responsible for the ongoing decolonization process;
- European Union and European Parliament, which are actively participating in the plundering of the territory’s natural resources;
- African Union and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
United Nations - High Commissioner for Human Rights, deprived of on-site visits since 2016;
- International Committee of the Red Cross, whose last visit to Sahrawi political prisoners dates back to 1996;
- Governments and international human rights organizations.
We call for immediate and effective intervention to save the life of Enaâma Asfari, ensure the release of all Sahrawi political prisoners, and put an end to the systematic repression exercised by the Moroccan occupation forces against the Sahrawi people.
AFAPREDESA reaffirms its full solidarity with Enaâma Asfari and supports his struggle for dignity and freedom.
For the immediate release of Enaâma Asfari and all Sahrawi political prisoners!
For an end to the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara!