On the thirteenth day of hunger strike, Hamadi Naciri went into a coma on Saturday, April 30, and was taken to the hospital emergency room.On April 17th, Hamadi Naciri and Gabal Jouda, Saharawi activists began a protest in the form of an open hunger strike outside the Smara administration building against the arbitrary reprisals they have suffered due to their status as Saharawi activists and against the policy of Apartheid promoted by the Moroccan occupation regime.
The two activists hope to alert the media to the daily problems of survival of the Saharawi population, including the forced displacement to Moroccan territory through labour relocation and food control.
Hamadi Naciri, President of Freedom Sun (Organization for the Protection of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders) and Mrs Gabbal Jouda, founding member of the same organization, claim respect for their social and economic rights denied to them by the Moroccan occupation and apartheid regime.
Demands
Mr Naciri demands to be transferred from his current work location, in accordance with the law, to his hometown or at least to a Saharawi city. Naciri was placed 1,200 km in Khouribga, Morocco, outside the Saharawi territory. A technique used to prevent his political activities and also hampering his economic and social life.
Mrs Jouda, who has eight children, is demanding the reinstatement of her monthly social salary, which she has been deprived of four months ago, following her participation in a protest for the self-determination of Western Sahara.
Moroccan “social aid” to the Saharawi population exists to control “behaviour” and prevent participation in demonstrations and other actions of non-violent resistance.
Economic and social segregation of Saharawis
The Saharawi are forced to a economic and social segregation and this is one of the ways of the occupation authorities to control the activities, trough work place displacement and withdrawing of basic food aid according to the “behaviour” required of them. Another technique is, as in the case of Naciri, the attribution of a job more than 1000km away, “exiling” and “isolating” the activists.
The vast majority of Saharawi are unemployed due to the apartheid policy; daily demonstrations of young graduates and unemployed take place in the occupied territories. The families survive at the expense of the Saharawi traditions of sharing and mutual aid. This situation leads to impoverishment and also to a decrease of marriages and consequently births, another way to control and decimate the Saharawi population.
Hamadi Naciri, was born under Spanish flag in 1971 and is father of 4 children, all students. Since the Moroccan invasion in 1975, Naciri has been kidnapped 3 times, one of these times having been taken to the secret prison of El Aaiun, the PC.CM. He has been arrested 4 times because of his involvement in non-violent protests and his actions to denounce the situation. He is president of the Freedom Sun organization in Smara and a member of several international human rights organizations.
Gabal Jouda, born in 1960 under the Spanish flag, is the mother of 8 children, 3 students and 5 unemployed, member of Freedom Sun and human rights activist, she is known for her non-violent activity for self-determination in Western Sahara.
