(AI translated) Bashir Khada, born in 1986, is a Sahrawi human rights activist and independent journalist based in Western Sahara. He is a member of the Sahrawi Human Rights Observatory in Western Sahara, and his journalistic work has been associated with the “Ekip Media” agency, which is known for its coverage of human rights and social issues in the occupied areas of Western Sahara.

In 2017, the appeals court in the Moroccan city of Salah sentenced him to twenty years in prison. During the trial, the Sahrawi political prisoner Bashir Khada testified that he was kidnapped on December 4, 2010, from a café in the city of Laayoune, along with human rights activists Mohammed Al-Tahliil and Hassan Idah.

He stated during the trial that he suffered torture and abuse while in custody, and that he lost consciousness due to the severe torture he endured. He also reported that he was kept blindfolded and handcuffed throughout his detention, and that the confessions and statements attributed to him were signed under duress and torture.

The Sahrawi human rights activist also confirmed that he was not present at the Aqdim Izik camp on the morning of November 8, 2010, the day the camp was dismantled and the subsequent events occurred, despite the accusations directed against him in connection with those events.

During his detention, Bashir Khada conducted several hunger strikes to protest his conditions of imprisonment. His first hunger strike took place in 2011 inside the Zakki 01 prison in Salah. On November 5, 2017, he began another hunger strike that lasted for 33 days before it was suspended in December of the same year. In September 18, 2018, he started an open hunger strike inside Tiflet 2 prison, demanding necessary medical care, an end to his suffering caused by being separated from his family, and being transferred to a prison facility closer to Western Sahara. This hunger strike lasted for more than five weeks.