Sahrawi activists and representatives have renewed concerns over restrictions affecting pro-independence voices in Western Sahara, alleging that administrative measures are increasingly being used alongside other forms of pressure against activists and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Sahrawi media outlet Equipe Media<\/em>, Affan Sabar, son of prominent Sahrawi human rights activist Brahim Sabar, said Moroccan authorities had refused to complete the renewal of his passport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sabar said he submitted his application approximately one month earlier and that, following delays, the file was ultimately rejected on August 5 without a clear explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He described the decision as a form of administrative pressure against him and his family, linking it to their activism in support of Western Sahara\u2019s independence and the Sahrawi people\u2019s right to self-determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sabar called on local and international human rights organizations to document the case and follow its developments, arguing that the absence of a clear explanation for the decision raises concerns about the possible use of administrative procedures to restrict Sahrawi activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The allegations come amid longstanding disputes over freedom of expression, assembly and human rights advocacy in Western Sahara. Sahrawi groups have repeatedly accused Moroccan authorities of restricting activists who advocate independence, while Morocco considers Western Sahara part of its territory and promotes an autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sahrawi activists maintain that such individual cases form part of a broader political issue centered on the right to self-determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this context, Fatma Mahfoud, a Polisario Front representative in Italy, recently addressed the political and historical dimensions of the Western Sahara dispute in an article titled \u201cWe Defend the Polisario Front with Historical Facts, Not Slogans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahfoud discussed the Sahrawi people\u2019s political experience and accused Moroccan authorities of limiting access to Western Sahara for journalists and independent observers, as well as restricting human rights activists and efforts to document alleged abuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also highlighted international solidarity initiatives involving Sahrawi communities, including programs through which Sahrawi children spend part of the summer with host families in Spain, Italy and other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the political front, Mahfoud reviewed the Polisario Front\u2019s trajectory from armed conflict to participation in political negotiations, while maintaining its demand for Sahrawi self-determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Western Sahara remains the subject of a decades-long dispute between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The continuing debate over political status, human rights and access to the territory remains closely connected to the unresolved question of the Sahrawi people\u2019s political future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sahrawi activists and representatives have renewed concerns over restrictions affecting pro-independence voices in Western Sahara, alleging that administrative measures are increasingly being used alongside other forms of pressure against activists and their families. According to the Sahrawi media outlet Equipe Media, Affan Sabar, son of prominent Sahrawi human rights activist Brahim Sabar, said Moroccan authorities …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67219,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67217\/revisions\/67219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}