Sahrawi Journalist Sentenced to 6 Years in Morocco for Clash with Police

According to the Spanish news agency, EFE, which cites the journalist’s lawyer, he is accused of "crossing obstructive road blocks, participating in a protest movement of civil servants" and possession of weapons.

Recalling the facts before the Court, the lawyer stressed that his client, Oulid Salek Batal, "had been arrested in Smara last April after an altercation with the police.

It had set up a "fence around the home of a Sahrawi activist to prevent Sahrawi activists from committing reprehensible acts after his release from prison".

But before that, the journalist had also been guilty, in March 2018, of participating in night demonstrations that had degenerated into riots, still in Smara. Here, in particular, a Moroccan policeman, injured by the demonstrators, had succumbed to his injuries.

For his part, Oulid Salek Batal has flatly rejected the charges against him, denouncing the ill-treatment he allegedly suffered from the police during his arrest.

Nine other Sahrawis have been sentenced to two and a half years in prison each by the same court. They were involved in the riots that occurred last July, the EFE specifies.