Rabat, 23 October 2026 (SPS) – The trial of four Sahrawi students arrested on 12 October 2026 has been postponed until 13 November, following a hearing held on Friday.
The Association for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons described the repeated postponements as undermining fair-trial guarantees.
The students are Ibrahim Babit, Salah Eddine Sabbar, Mohamed Lemrabt and El Hussein Cheihab. They were arrested while participating in a peaceful protest outside the Moroccan prison administration in Rabat, called by families of Gdeim Izik group prisoners on hunger strike.
The association said the arrests involved serious procedural and legal violations and accused the Moroccan authorities of targeting Sahrawi students for their activism in support of prisoners’ rights.
It condemned what it described as arbitrary arrests and the use of the judiciary for political retaliation, and called for the students’ immediate and unconditional release.
The association also urged the international community and UN human rights mechanisms, including special rapporteurs and the Human Rights Council, to intervene urgently to secure their release and address reported violations against Sahrawi prisoners and detainees.
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