Following pressure from the Rafto Foundation and 30 other Norwegian human rights organisations, among them the Human Rights House Foundation, Sidi Mohammed Daddach had his passport back late last year. The passport had been confiscated since 2003. Below is the letter that did the trick, addressed to the Moroccan Minister of the Interior. (12-FEB-07)
Based on articles from www.vest-sahara.no, the website of the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, this article has been written by HRHF / Niels Jacob Harbitz. Photo of Daddach: Thomas Frantsvold.
-I am very thankful to you and the institution for the great job you did concerning the pressure you did to free my passport. The letters you sent to the Moroccan minister of Interior had great effects on freeing my passport That enabled me to visit my beloved mother in the Saharawi camps in Tindouf, Algeria, Daddach wrote in his letter to the Rafto Foundation. The first thing Daddach did on receiving his passport, was to visit his mother in a refugee camp in Algeria. There, he was received and celebrated as a hero by the refugee population. Both inthe Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria and inside occupied Western Sahara there is gratitude over the support received from Norwegian organisations and authorities.
For the Saharawis, the native population of Western Sahara, Daddach is among the most powerful symbols of freedom and independence. After 24 years´ imprisonment, Daddach was released in 2001, following an international campaign lead by Amnesty International in cooperatio with Saharawi activists. The following year, he was named the winner of the Rafto Human Rights Award, and came to Bergen to receive the prize. Daddach has particularly contributed to addressing Moroccan human rights violations inside Western Sahara, and the destiny of the more than 500 ´disappeared´ Saharawis since the invation in 1975.
This is the letter that was sent to the Moroccan Minister of the Interior:
His Excellency, Minister of the Interior
M. Chakib Benmoussa
Rabat, Morocco
Fax: +212 37 76 20 56
Bergen/Oslo, Norway, 2 November 2006
Open letter to the Moroccan government.
Appeal for the return of passport to Mr. Sidi Mohammed Daddach, Western Sahara.
Dear Minister,
On Friday November 3 and Saturday November 4, the Norwegian Rafto Foundation celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Award for Human Rights, and all previous award winners are invited to take part. The events are to take place in Bergen, Norway. (See www.rafto.no) There is one important person, however, who may not be able to participate.
Sidi Mohammed Daddach won the Rafto award in 2002 for his struggle for human rights in Western Sahara, a country under Moroccan military occupation. Daddach is a leading advocate for human rights and a highly respected representative of the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara. When announcing the award to Daddach in 2002, the Rafto Foundation stated that “Daddach serves as a symbol for his people’s history of suffering and their fight for independence. Daddach is a moderate voice that can build bridges for the future. Despite having spent more than half his life as a prisoner of conscience, Daddach has never given up the fight for people’s basic rights and for human dignity.” He spent 24 years in Moroccan jails for his beliefs, of which 14 years on death row. He was not released from prison until 2001, after a global campaign for his release.
Daddach received his first passport in November 2002, just in time for the Rafto award ceremony in Bergen, but only after intense pressure from the Norwegian government and civil society. On 27 March 2003, however, Daddach and a dozen other Sahrawi Human Rights activists were detained by Moroccan border police on their way to speak before the United Nations Commission for Human Rights in Geneva and their passports were confiscated. Since then Daddach has demanded to have his passport returned, so far without success.
Dear Minister, we would also like to remind you of the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Mission to Western Sahara and the Refugee Camps in Tindouf, dated 08 September 2006 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-Update/message/1783. Paragraph 36, headed “Freedom of movement” reads:
“Several activists informed the delegation that passports of some Sahrawis have been confiscated by Moroccan officials at international airports, preventing them from traveling abroad (6). The delegation raised this issue with Ministry of Interior officials, who indicated that all such cases, if any existed, would be solved immediately and that people concerned could recover their passports at any time. In Laayoune, the delegation presented a list of nine specific cases of confiscation of passports to the Wali, who indicated that he would inquire about the passports and hand them over to their owners within a few days. However, one month after the mission returned to Geneva, the passports were still withheld.”
We are also aware that the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has brought the issue of Daddach’s passport to your government’s attention on repeated occasions, but has to date not received a clear reply.
Therefore, the undersigned organizations wish to appeal to the government of Morocco to return Daddach’s passport to him and allow him to travel to Norway to participate in the Rafto anniversary celebrations. We sincerely believe that failing to do so would further damage Morocco’s reputation internationally and detract from the image of a country intent on ending entrenched practices of authoritarianism and oppression of voices of dissent.
Daddach’s voice is a moderate and responsible one, demanding respect for the basic rights of his people, but at the same time seeking to build bridges with Moroccan society. There is no legal reason that he should not be allowed to travel to Bergen this weekend, and we believe it is also in Morocco’s best interest to let him travel. You can make it happen by making sure that the passport is to be immediately returned to Daddach, and that no other formal or informal travel restrictions are to be imposed on him. We would also like to stress that it is our opinion that the passport never should have been confiscated in the first place.
Sir, please be assured of our highest consideration and sincere greetings.
Sincerely,
The Rafto Foundation (Raftostiftelsen)
Norwegian Refugee Council (Flyktninghjelpen, NRC)
Norwegian People’s Aid (Norsk Folkehjelp, NPA)
Norwegian Church Aid (Kirkens Nødhjelp, NCA)
Amnesty International Norway (Amnesty International Norge)
Norwegian Association of Students (Studentenes Landsforbund, StL)
The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara (Støttekomiteen for Vest- Sahara)
The Human Rights House Foundation
The Norwegian Council for Africa (Fellesrådet for Afrika)
Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH)
Future in Our Hands (Fremtiden i våre hender, FIVH)
The Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development (Forum for Utvikling og Miljø)
The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (Den norske Helsingforskomité)
Union of Education Norway (Utdanningsforbundet)
Norwegian Labour Youth (Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking, AUF)
Norwegian Center Youth (Senterungdommen)
Young Liberals of Norway (Unge Venstre)
Progress Party Youth (Fremskrittspartiet Ungdom, FpU)
Norwegian Young Conservatives (Unge Høyres Landsforbund)
Socialist Youth Link Norway (Sosialistisk Ungdom, SU)
Red Youth Norway (Rød Ungdom, RU)
Tvibit Youth Centre
Palestine Committee in Tromsø (Palestinakomiteen, Tromsø)
Attac Norge (Attac Norway)
The Norwegian Council for the Rights of the Kurdish People (Det norske råd for kurdernes rettigheter)
Norwegian Tibet Committee (Den norske Tibet Komité)
The Norwegian Peace Association (Norges Fredslag)
War Resisters International –Norway (Folkereisning mot krig)
Trade Union for Industry and Energy (Fagforbundet for industri og energi)
The Norwegian Burma Committee (Den norske Burmakomité)
Copy sent to:
The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Benaissa
The Moroccan Minister of Justice, Mohamed Bouzoubaa
Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco, Oslo
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Rabat, Morocco
The Norwegian Delegation to the United Nations, New York
The Norwegian Delegation to the United Nations, Geneva
Moroccan and International press
Human Rights organizations: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Another twist in the tale
Following the sending of this letter, all 31 signatory organisations received a formal letter of self-invitation from the Moroccan Ambassador to Norway, Mr yahdih Bouchaab, suggesting that he should come and see us. Human Rights House Foundation is among the many organisations that have since had the honour to drink coffe with the Ambassador and discuss the human rights situation in Western Sahara. despite the fact that the Ambassador has onlu invited himself to the signatories of the appeal for Daddach to have his passport back, the Ambassador claims that his courtesy visits have noting to do with this appeal. His aim, he demands to be trusted on, is to build a bridge between the Embassy and the NGOs, so that if they have any concerns regarding Morocco, we can all come straight to him.
A broad, but failed campaign
The different organisations that have been visited tell about a friendly Ambassador showing up with enormous amounts of information about the misdeeds of Polisario, the movement for Western Saharan self-determination, and also lots of documents whose truth value could not be verified. The Ambassador’s campaign also follows in the wake of Saadani Malavinin’s approach to the media and representatives of the political parties in Parliament, once again to tell solely of Polisario’s violations. Malavinin also sought the attention of the tv station TV2 and the tabloid Dagbladet, but after consulting the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, both chose not to use any of the material produced on the basis of her visits.
