(AI translated) Hussein Bashir Am'addour, the Sahrawi student and Sahrawi political prisoner, is among the Sahrawi students who were arrested and tried in the context of student, political, and human rights activities linked to the issue of Western Sahara. His path in student activism dates back to early years, when he participated in organizing peaceful protests and marches by Sahrawi students, and he also engaged in a number of cultural, intellectual, and student initiatives. Hussein Bashir Am'addour was born and is 35 years old. He holds a bachelor's degree in public law from Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, and he was pursuing his studies in the second year of the master's program in Public Law and Political Science. He was a member of the Sahrawi Center for Culture and Thought in the occupied city of Laayoune, and he also participated in the work of the political and trade-union committee of the Sahrawi student movement during the years 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Student and Cultural Activism His activism was linked to defending student demands and participating in cultural and intellectual activities. He participated in organizing and leading a number of student protests and marches, among the most prominent of which was a protest organized in front of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Rabat on December 7, 2015, demanding the establishment of a university in Western Sahara. He was also part of the organizing committee for an intellectual symposium organized by the Sahrawi Center for Culture and Thought on February 22, 2014, under the title: “The Dialectic of Spontaneity and Organization in Peaceful Demonstrations: A Critical Reading of the Sahrawi Experience.” He represented Sahrawi students during the first youth forum organized by the same center in partnership with the “Gdeim Izik Coordination for the Peaceful Movement” on April 19, 2015. His activities also included organizing a football tournament in the city of Tan-Tan in 2013 to commemorate the late Sahrawi “Khalil Sidi Mohamed,” alongside following the trials of a number of Sahrawi political prisoners.

Arrest and Harassment Since His School Years Available data indicate that Al-Hussein Al-Bashir Am'addour was arrested and tortured in 2008 when he was a minor, against the backdrop of his participation in peaceful protests linked to demanding the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination. In 2010, he was expelled from the secondary school where he was pursuing his studies in the city of Tan-Tan, and was forced to move to the outskirts of the city of Guelmim in order to complete his education. These events come within the context of a long trajectory of student and political activism during which he continued his university studies and engaged in student, cultural, and human rights activities.

Seeking Asylum in Spain, Then Deportation to Morocco

Under the pressures he was facing, the Sahrawi student activist left Morocco on January 11, 2019, heading to the Canary Islands, and reached the Spanish island of Lanzarote, where he applied for asylum with the Spanish authorities. According to the data contained in his file, he applied for asylum in the presence of a Spanish lawyer and a Lebanese-Spanish interpreter, and he believed that his application would be examined before his release. However, he was transferred to a detention center for migrants and asylum seekers, then transferred to Las Palmas. On January 13, 2019, he was informed that he would be handed over to the Moroccan authorities, which prompted him to protest and affirm that his life would be at risk if he were returned to Morocco. According to his statement, he was placed in solitary confinement and went on a hunger and thirst strike for 48 hours. He also stated that he was forced to sign documents in Spanish without the presence of an interpreter or lawyer, before being transferred to Madrid and then to Melilla, where the Moroccan authorities received him on January 17, 2019, in the city of Nador.

Interrogation and Investigation After His Handover After his handover to the Moroccan authorities, Al-Hussein Al-Bashir Am'addour, according to his statement, was subjected to interrogations in Nador, Casablanca, and Marrakesh. In Nador, he initially refused to submit to interrogation by an officer who did not disclose the agency to which he belonged, before he identified himself, according to the statement, as belonging to the Moroccan intelligence apparatus. The interrogation focused on his activity in Moroccan universities and Western Sahara and on his relations with human rights defenders. In Casablanca, he stated that he spent a night at the police headquarters and was interrogated, with a focus on his relationship with Mohamed Abdelaziz and his connections with human rights activists. In Marrakesh, the interrogation, according to the file, focused on his political and student activism and on his relations with the leadership of the Polisario Front. He also refused to sign a police record that he considered did not reflect his statements, and accused the authorities that interrogated him of changing his statements and adding phrases he had not made. He also stated that he was deprived of a lawyer's assistance and of contacting his family during stages of the investigation.

Trial and Prison Sentence:

On January 21, 2019, Al-Hussein Al-Bashir Am'addour appeared before the King's Attorney General and the investigating judge at the Court of Appeal in Marrakesh. The investigating judge ordered his committal to Oudaya Prison and his prosecution while in custody, where a set of criminal charges were brought against him, and after a series of postponements and judicial procedures, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.