Morocco Denies Amnesty International Claims on Gdeim Izik Prisoner Case

General view of Tiflet Prison, where Sahrawi activist Mohamed Lamine Hadi was being held (Asharq Al-Awsat)
General view of Tiflet Prison, where Sahrawi activist Mohamed Lamine Hadi was being held (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Morocco Denies Amnesty International Claims on Gdeim Izik Prisoner Case

General view of Tiflet Prison, where Sahrawi activist Mohamed Lamine Hadi was being held (Asharq Al-Awsat)
General view of Tiflet Prison, where Sahrawi activist Mohamed Lamine Hadi was being held (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Morocco’s General Delegation for Prison Administration denied on Tuesday recent claims by Amnesty International regarding torture and human rights violations against a prisoner detained in connection with the Gdim Izik Incidents.

The country’s prison authority said in a statement that the prisoner, detained at the local prison of Tiflet 2 over Gdim Izik case which dates back to 2010, “has never been subjected to any assault by the prison staff.”

“Like all inmates, he enjoys all the rights stipulated in the law regulating prisons.”

The Gdeim Izik incident involved a protest camp, known as Gdeim Izik, which was set up by a group of people demanding greater economic and social opportunities.

Moroccan security forces dismantled the protest camp in November 2010, which lead to clashes with Polisario members, who killed 12 police officers.

The Administration said that Amnesty International is “spreading a set of lies by seizing the propaganda of the enemies of Morocco’s territorial integrity, and trying to turn it into facts without making any effort to verify its authenticity.”

In addition, it described the NGO’s practices as a “blatant violation of the basics of the human rights work that the organization claims to practice.”

In its recently published report on “the state of the world’s human rights,” Amnesty International claimed that “torture and other ill-treatment continued with impunity both inside and out of prisons, particularly against Sahrawi activists.”



Syria and Neighbors Urge Israel to Stop Bombings

Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
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Syria and Neighbors Urge Israel to Stop Bombings

Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)

The foreign ministers of Syria, Türkiye and Jordan, meeting Monday in Ankara, called on Israel to cease attacks on Syria and to withdraw troops from the country.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria since longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December, often targeting military sites and killing dozens of people.

Israeli officials have also described Syria's new authorities as extremists and claimed to defend the country's Druze minority with a recent spate of attacks.

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a press conference with his Jordanian and Syrian counterparts that "Israel's expansionism poses a significant threat to the security, stability and future of Syria."

"This must come to an end. And we are on the same page about this. Syria needs to be supported to prevent terrorist organizations from settling in this region," Fidan added, noting that Syria shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Türkiye.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told the joint press conference that "our borders are constantly violated by Israeli attacks".

The Israeli strikes are "calculated escalations aimed at destabilizing Syria and dragging the region into a new cycle of conflict", Shaibani said, decrying "systematic violations of international law and explicit provocations".

He called on the international community to put Israel under "increased pressure" to halt the bombings.

Jordan's top diplomat, Ayman Safadi, said attacks on Syrian soil "will not bring security to Israel and will bring nothing to Syria except ruin and destruction".