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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1216
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000138 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/NESCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2020 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SNAR SOCI WI MO
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON PRISON CONDITIONS IN LAAYOUNE 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR GREGORY THOME FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) an 
d (d.) 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Conditions have improved a great 
deal in the last year and a half at the Laayoune 
prison, the only official prison facility in the 
Western Sahara.  GOM authorities have reduced the 
prison population by nearly half although a large 
portion of the reductions are due to the transfer 
of prisoners to other, often more crowded detention 
facilities in internationally recognized Morocco. 
Some Sahrawis characterize these transfers as 
punishments, saying the moves make it difficult 
for families in the Western Sahara to visit their 
imprisoned relatives.  Amongst the 448 prisoners 
currently being held in the Laayoune prison, there 
are 39 women and 31 teenagers, all held separately 
from the men.  The Moroccan Observatory of Prisons 
(OMP) reports that two known Sahrawi independence 
activists (convicted of non-political offenses) 
are imprisoned in Laayoune and 17 are held 
elsewhere.  However, Sahrawi NGOs say the number 
of such prisoners is between 52.  END SUMMARY. 
 
---------------------- 
A View from the Inside 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) During a February 2-4 trip to Laayoune, 
we met with Nourredine Darif, the Laayoune-based 
OMP representative and Benziza Kaltoum, Director 
of the Association Al-Fath, an NGO that works on 
prisoner education and efforts to reinsert them 
back into society upon their release.  Darif has 
been based out of Laayoune and Smara for years 
and was inspired to work toward improving prison 
conditions after he himself spent four months in 
Laayoune's then-badly overcrowded prison in 2004. 
Benziza has worked in the Laayoune facility for 
eleven years and her NGO has recently expanded 
its activities thanks to an injection of government 
funding.  Her NGO has predominantly focused on 
literacy and job training for prisoners.  Her 
employment training programs, which often continue 
after the prisoner has been released, focus on small 
business development skills to prepare prisoners 
economically for life after prison. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Both Darif and Benziza confirmed that they 
have regular access to the prison in Laayoune.  Benziza 
actually holds a badge which grants her daily access. 
Darif, on the other hand, must as an OMP representative 
still receive specific approval on a case-by-case basis 
in order to gain entry. Both acknowledged that GOM 
authorities are much more forthcoming in granting 
prison access to NGOs such as Al-Fath that focus 
strictly on ministering to prisoners' educational, 
religious or other needs, as opposed to those such 
as OMP that are specifically concerned with human 
rights.  That said, Darif confirmed that he rarely 
faces problems or extensive delays in gaining access. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Background on the Laayoune Prison 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Laayoune prison is the only official 
detention center in the Western Sahara region, aside 
from meager holding cells co-located in the Smara, 
Boujdour and Dakhla police stations (respectively 2, 
3 and 7 hours from Laayoune by car).  The Spaniards 
built the prison when Laayoune was still under colonial 
rule and it underwent a renovation in the 1980s. 
Despite a GOM announcement in 2008 that a new prison 
would be built -- or the current facility at least 
renovated -- Darif said that such plans are now off 
the table for budgetary reasons.  The prison has a 
capacity of 300 but is currently holding 448 prisoners 
-- still overcrowded, but down substantially from the 
900 inmates it housed in 2005.  At the moment, the 
prison holds 417 men, 39 teenagers and 31 women.  Darif 
confirmed that both the group of teenagers and the 
females are held separately from the men.  This is in 
contrast to the majority of other prisons throughout 
Morocco in which juveniles are often held in the same 
cells as adults due to the lack of adequate juvenile 
prison facilities. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The dramatic reduction in Laayoune's prison 
population comes in part as a result of King Mohammed 
VI's annual amnesty which, in the absence of a 
functioning parole system, permits the GOM to release 
hundreds of prisoners throughout Morocco prior to the 
completion of their full sentences.  However, the 
lion's share of the reduction is due to a systematic 
transfer of prisoners from Laayoune to other prisons 
throughout the southern areas of internationally 
recognized Morocco, especially to Agadir and Marrakesh. 
While Darif and Benziza applauded this GOM effort, 
which has served to dramatically improve conditions for 
the prisoners, they acknowledged that some have 
criticized the transfer program.  Some Sahrawi families 
complain that the transfers have made family visits 
more difficult, Benziza said.  In addition, Sahrawi 
pro-independence and human rights activists have 
alleged that the authorities often move prisoners as a 
punishment for bad behavior or because of their 
political views.   Darif admitted that the transfers 
have not addressed Morocco's overarching problem of 
overcrowded prisons -- especially since the authorities 
transferred most of the Laayoune prisoners to prisons 
in Morocco proper that are themselves overcrowded. 
(NOTE: This information tracks with data that Hafidh 
Benhachem, head of the Directorate General for Prison 
Administration (DGAP), released in early January of 
¶2010.  END NOTE.) 
 
------------------ 
Other Improvements 
------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) Darif and Benziza also described other 
improvements within the prison.  With the reduced 
population, prison officials can manage family visits 
better and allow them to occur more frequently. 
Regional officials have increased food budgets, and 
prisoners' diets are now adequate enough that family 
members do not need to supplement them.  Prisoners have 
access to a gym and a soccer field, as well as a 
library, a small computer lab, and adequate spaces for 
prayer.  Benziza noted that the new Wali (i.e., 
the regional administrator and senior Laayoune-based 
Ministry of Interior official) has taken a special 
interest in post-prison reinsertion of prisoners, and 
has begun providing funding for her organization to 
provide increased vocational training in auto repair, 
hair styling, and small business management. 
 
-------------------- 
Political Prisoners? 
-------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Darif emphasized that all the inmates at Laayoune 
had committed -- or at least been tried and found guilty 
of -- actual crimes.  However, he cited nineteen cases of 
known Sahrawi pro-independence activists who are currently 
serving time in Moroccan prisons -- two in Laayoune and 
17 in internationally recognized Morocco.  In each of 
these cases, authorities arrested the Sahrawis and 
convicted them of a legitimate offense; however, Darif 
suggested, their known political beliefs may have 
influenced authorities' decision-making regarding their 
convictions, sentences, or current location.  (NOTE: In 
a separate meeting, members of the Collective of Sahrawi 
Human Rights Defenders, the pro-independence NGO that 
Aminatou Haidar leads, alleged that the GOM currently held 
52 such prisoners at various prisons in Western Sahara 
and Morocco.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶8. (C) COMMENT: The dramatic reduction in overcrowding 
and the improved conditions for prisoners in Laayoune 
is encouraging, and clearly comes as part of a GOM effort 
to improve the basic human rights situation in the 
territory.  However, the transfer of prisoners out of 
the Laayoune prison doesn't reduce overall prison 
overcrowding in Morocco.  As for the political 
questions surrounding some Sahrawi prisoners, Moroccan 
law does not recognize the concept of political 
prisoners and the GOM argues that there are none in 
the country.  However, we do not doubt our contacts' 
suggestion that there may be political overtones to the 
cases against some Sahrawis.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
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