Prisoners of Gdeim Izik: AI calls on Morocco to respect the rights of defense

(SPS) - The Human Rights Organization, Amnesty International (AI), has called on Moroccan authorities to respect the rights of defense of the group of prisoners in Gdeim Izik after the ban on entering the.Morocco of two of their lawyers.

Two lawyers, Ingrid Metton and Olfa Ouled, from the group of Saharawi political activists in Gdeim Izik, detained in Morocco for more than seven years, were banned last Monday from entering Morocco.

In a tweet posted after the expulsion, the NGO stressed that the Moroccan authorities "must respect the rights of the prisoners of Gdeim Izik, which include the choice of lawyers".

AI also urged the Moroccan authorities to ensure that "immigration policies are not discriminatory, including on the basis of political considerations".

The organization noted that "the two French lawyers expelled from Morocco were going to visit the Sahrawi detainees of Gdeim Izik, sentenced in July 2017 to heavy prison terms in a manifestly unfair trial".

The two lawyers wanted to visit their clients following reports of ill-treatment in prison. They were stopped by plainclothes agents at the airport and expelled without reasons or explanations.

it should be recalled that  19 Sahrawi activists of the Gdeim Izik group were heavily convicted on 19 July 2017, after a trial based on evidence that was only confessions extracted under torture