I just witnessed a Sahrawi student protest in Agadir today.
Two Sahrawi students were killed last night when a Supratours bus (bus B-A 6687), deliberately ran them over at the bus station in Agadir, according to 24 year old Ahmed Salem Dohi who was at the scene and was visibly upset when I met him.
Four Sahrawi students were wounded according to student leader Aino Mohammed. One is in a coma. The students were not allowed to board the bus despite available seats. They then stood in front of the bus in protest.
Passengers inside the bus fled. Six to seven trucks of police officers then arrived and beat the remaining Sahrawi students said Dohi who managed to escape.
The two Sahrawi students killed are 22 year old Baba Khaya and 20 year old Lheussein Abdsadek Lakteif. Baba Khaya is Sultana Khaya's cousin. Sultana is a Sahrawi human rights activist documented by Amnesty International.
I then attended the protest at the University of Agadir earlier today. Several hundred Sahrawi gathered in front of the Law School and are demanding justice. Three were arrested.
I think I’m being followed by the Moroccan DST, their intelligence service. After witnessing the protests I returned by taxi to grab my camera and note pad against the better judgement of one of the students. When I arrived for the second time, the protesters were holding up photos of Khaya and Lakteif.
I then spotted a Moroccan in military uniform who saw me in the cab. I continued and got out but then walked in the opposite direction and could hear the protesters on a parallel street. I spotted a taxi stand but the cab driver refused to take me.
Three other cabs were available but they wouldn't take me either. Then another cab arrived. The driver kept asking me questions about why I was there and what my profession was. He wanted to know if the people I was visiting were Moroccan or “other” as he put it.
Foreign journalists caught writing on the Western Sahara will have their material confiscated and be deported. Worse, the students I met will be beaten and possibly jailed on false charges.
I’ll be leaving tomorrow.
The International Crisis Group calls the Western Sahara one of the longest and most neglected conflicts. Agreed. My trip to Laayoune from Agadir and back was delayed by numerous checkpoints. There is a media blackout. In Laayoune proper, I met several human rights activists, some had been jailed in secret detention centers and tortured. I will write about these individuals once home.
