Madrid (Spain), August 21, 2025 (SPS) - The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has circulated its report to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In the report, the group refers to the cases of Sahrawi political prisoners detained in the prisons of the occupying state of Morocco, based on unfair rulings that were essentially founded on confessions extracted under physical torture.
The report, which included references to 71 opinions issued by the Working Group concerning the detention of 149 persons in 41 countries—among them the prisoners of the Gdeim Izik group and the political prisoner Khatri Dadda—also listed the 30 urgent appeals it sent to 16 governments and, in 3 cases, to other actors.
The recommendations contained in the report, directed at States, included a call to enhance their cooperation with the Working Group as part of advanced follow-up procedures to its opinions (including remedies and reparations offered to victims of arbitrary detention) and also in granting access to its visit requests. It further called for the adoption of legislation related to reasonable and proportionate alternative measures to pre-trial detention.
The report also urged the governments concerned by the opinions it issued, including Morocco in the case of the Gdeim Izik prisoners and Khatri Dadda, to put an end to arbitrary detention and to release persons detained arbitrarily and in very poor conditions.
The Working Group also directed an inquiry to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding a comprehensive and accurate review of the opinions recorded under No. 23/2023, concerning 18 Sahrawi political prisoners (the Gdeim Izik group), and No. 67/2023, concerning Khatri Dadda, all detained by the Moroccan authorities.
Regarding the retaliatory acts suffered by the families of the Gdeim Izik detainees, such as Claude Mangin-Asfari, and their lawyers Joseph Breham, Ingrid Metton, and Elise Toullet, the Working Group expressed its deep concern about continuing to receive, in the context of the follow-up procedure, reports of retaliatory acts and intimidation against persons who were the subject of an urgent appeal, letter, or notification, or whose cases had prompted recommendations from the Working Group. It emphasized that such acts are utterly unacceptable.
On this occasion, the report also called upon all States to put an immediate end to these acts, which can undermine efforts to achieve justice for victims and put a stop to the policy of arbitrary detention prevalent in a number of countries worldwide.
Related blogs
