Occupied El Aaiún, 11 January 2026 (SPS) – The Moroccan occupation is escalating its systematic campaign of repression and siege targeting Sahrawi human rights defenders and civilians, in retaliation for their positions and activities supporting the legitimate rights of the Sahrawi people, foremost among them the right to self-determination and independence.
Sahrawi activist Um Saad Bourial stated in remarks to the news website Equipe Media that she has been subjected for several days to “a campaign of harassment and close, intensive surveillance by the Moroccan occupation’s security services in the occupied city of El Aaiún, in a move that reflects the escalation of the repressive onslaught against the families of Sahrawi political prisoners.”
Bourial—sister of Sahrawi civilian prisoner Mohamed Bourial, who has been detained for 15 years in Kenitra Prison as part of the Gdeim Izik group—indicated that in recent days she was taken aback by “the transformation of routine surveillance into a direct and close siege.”
She noted that the tracking operations involved a large number of plainclothes agents of the Makhzen security apparatus, adding that this excessive practice has spread fear and panic among residents, and describing it as “an attempt to socially isolate her and tighten the noose around her.”
The same speaker also pointed out that these arbitrary measures were not limited to her alone, but also affected a number of other Sahrawi women activists.
This harassment comes at a time when her imprisoned brother continues to serve an unjust 30-year prison sentence. He is one of the victims of the abduction and systematic torture that followed the brutal Moroccan military assault on the Gdeim Izik camp, on the outskirts of occupied El Aaiún in 2010.
It is worth noting that since last Tuesday, the Moroccan occupation has imposed a tight security siege on the homes of Sahrawi activists Hasna Baba Ahmed Adouihe, a member of the League for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons, and Mina Abaali, a member of the Executive Office of the Sahrawi Body Against the Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM) in occupied El Aaiún. This comes within the framework of repressive practices targeting Sahrawi militants and activists in the occupied territories.
As part of its arbitrary campaign, the Moroccan occupation authorities also demolished the home of a Sahrawi family, leaving them without shelter amid harsh climatic conditions, in an incident that is not isolated but rather part of a broader pattern within a systematic policy aimed at displacing the indigenous population.
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