Moroccans killed by the Algerian army: a complaint in preparation

In a statement to Médias24, the Bar Association of Morocco, through the voice of its president Mourad Elajouti, says it strongly condemns "the murderous and barbaric terrorist attack perpetrated by the Algerian military against Moroccan civilians in distress at sea and intends to seize the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the international criminal courts as well as the UN bodies". According to his explanations, the Algerian state has violated the provisions of the 1979 International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) which obliges all states to carry out non-discriminatory rescue operations regardless of the nationality or status of the persons rescued, but also the provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of December 10, 1982.

What does Chapter 2 § 2.1.10 of the SAR Convention say? "Contracting States shall ensure that assistance can be provided to any person in distress at sea regardless of the nationality or status of such person or the circumstances in which such person is found." What about Chapter 2 § 2.1.1 of the same convention? "The Parties shall ensure that the necessary arrangements are made for the required search and rescue services to be provided to persons in distress at sea off their coasts." In a similar incident, Moroccan fishermen flew to the rescue of 9 Algerian sailors lost near the town of Nador in a Moroccan maritime area, it is recalled.

On Tuesday, two Franco-Moroccans among a group of four Franco-Moroccans who were jet skiing in Saïdia, just a few cables from the maritime border with Algeria, were killed by the Algerian coast guards. According to the testimony of Mohamed Qissi, the elder brother of Bilal, one of the victims, they were four young people - three Franco-Moroccans and one Moroccan - each on a jet ski on the Moroccan coast. "We got lost, but we kept going until we found ourselves in Algeria. We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian zodiac came towards us, it started zigzagging as if they wanted to knock us over. [...] They (the occupants of the zodiac) shot at us. Thank God, I wasn’t hit but my brother and my friend, they killed them. They arrested my other friend," he recounted. This other friend named Smaïl Snabé is incarcerated in Algeria.