Occupied El Aaiún, 11 January 2026 (SPS) – The Sahrawi Association of Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA) strongly condemned the attack carried out by Moroccan occupation forces against Sahrawi human rights defender Khadijetu Douh, Second Vice-President of the Association, in the occupied city of El Aaiún, considering it a new episode in the series of systematic repression targeting Sahrawi human rights voices.
In a statement issued by its Executive Office on Saturday, the Association pointed out that occupation forces deliberately caused serious damage to Khadijetu Douh’s car using a sharp tool, in an attack bearing all the hallmarks of a retaliatory act and reflecting a clear policy of intimidation aimed at silencing Sahrawi human rights defenders and deterring them from continuing their peaceful activities.
The statement added that this attack cannot be separated from the broader context of human rights violations practiced by the Moroccan occupation authorities in Western Sahara, where Sahrawi defenders, journalists, and activists are subjected to persecution, harassment, and attacks on their property, in the absence of any accountability or prosecution.
CODESA held the Moroccan occupation forces fully responsible for the safety and security of Khadijetu Douh and all Sahrawi human rights defenders, warning of the danger posed by the continuation of these violations amid what it described as “a troubling international silence.”
The Association called on United Nations mechanisms and international human rights organizations to intervene urgently to put an end to the policy of impunity, and demanded the establishment of an independent and permanent international mechanism to monitor the human rights situation in Western Sahara, similar to those in other conflict zones under international oversight.
CODESA concluded its statement by stressing that the continued disregard by the international community for the suffering of the Sahrawi people only deepens the suffering of civilians and undermines the foundations of international justice, calling for the assumption of legal and moral responsibilities toward the last colony in Africa.
