Yearly Archives: 2021

UN Experts Urge Morocco to Release Imprisoned Sahrawi Journalist

7 February 2021
Citing Torture and Lack of Judicial Independence, UN Experts Urge Morocco to Release Imprisoned Sahrawi Journalist

Screenshot of a video showing policemen severely beating two activists in Smara, Western Sahara, on June 7, 2019

On 7 June 2019, videos began to circulate showing Moroccan police brutally beating up a Saharawi journalist in occupied Western Sahara. Today, an UN opinion calling for his release from prison was made public.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for the immediate release of the young Saharawi journalist Walid Salek El Batal in a decision made public today. The opinion was issued during the 89th session of the Working Group and can be found here.

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The Renewed Conflict in Western Sahara: Risks and Implications

Davide Contini, Researcher for Adverse Media Entities Unit,
Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, January 2021

“Today, this diplomatic crisis over Western Sahara—an offspring of the Cold War and the African decolonization—reemerges, jeopardizing companies’ involvement in the region’s businesses. Legal and economic consequences of the dispute have amplified in recent years, especially following two verdicts of the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU), which stated that Western Sahara has a separate and distinct status from Morocco and that, therefore, Morocco does not have the legal personality to conclude trade agreements concerning the resources of Western Sahara. (cont.)

Article by Davide Contini