Adala UK expresses its deep concern over the violent repression of Sahrawi students at Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, Morocco, and strongly condemns the Moroccan authorities’ continued use of academic institutions as instruments of political persecution and intimidation.

On 16 June 2025, members of the Moroccan security forces—both in uniform and plainclothes—surrounded the Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences at Ibn Zohr University in an attempt to prevent a peaceful solidarity gathering organised by Sahrawi students. The gathering aimed to express support for imprisoned Sahrawi students and political detainees across Morocco.

Despite the peaceful and lawful nature of the demonstration, students were met with a disproportionate and unlawful response. After chanting slogans in support of the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and displaying banners with images of Sahrawi political prisoners, plainclothes Moroccan intelligence agents—reportedly acting in coordination with the Dean, the Secretary-General of the faculty, and private security personnel—forcefully entered the campus and disrupted the protest.

Several Sahrawi students were subjected to physical assaults, verbal abuse, arbitrary detention, and acts of intimidation. Reports further indicate that following the crackdown, some students were followed and monitored at their residences by Moroccan security personnel, in a blatant effort to extend the campaign of harassment beyond university grounds.

In a deeply troubling development, a number of Sahrawi students subsequently received formal summonses from the university administration, ordering them to appear before a disciplinary council on 7 July 2025. These summonses appear to be retaliatory in nature, aimed at punishing and deterring students from expressing solidarity with the Sahrawi cause and speaking out against the detention of political prisoners.

This administrative action coincides with a surge of online incitement campaigns, led by state-affiliated media figures and nationalist platforms, calling on the Moroccan security services and university officials to take punitive action against Sahrawi students for their political views. These campaigns are marked by racist and chauvinistic rhetoric, further entrenching a hostile and discriminatory environment against Sahrawi individuals within Moroccan public institutions.

Adala UK reiterates that such actions constitute serious violations of Morocco’s international legal obligations, including under:

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and protection from discrimination;
• The Fourth Geneva Convention, which applies to occupied territories and prohibits acts of violence, intimidation, and repression against civilians;
• The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which prohibits racist and ethnically motivated persecution.

As the occupying power in Western Sahara, Morocco bears a heightened responsibility to ensure the protection of Sahrawi civilians, including students, from all forms of violence, discrimination, and collective punishment. The targeting of students for their legitimate, peaceful expression constitutes a violation of both international humanitarian law and fundamental human rights standards.

Adala UK calls on the Moroccan authorities to:

• Immediately cease all forms of harassment, surveillance, intimidation, and retaliatory disciplinary proceedings against Sahrawi students;
• Guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and academic freedom in Moroccan universities, in accordance with international human rights standards;
• End the systemic criminalisation of Sahrawi human rights defenders, activists, and students;
• Release all Sahrawi political prisoners and ensure that any judicial proceedings are consistent with international fair trial standards.

Adala UK further urges the United Nations, the European Union, and the United Kingdom to take urgent diplomatic and political measures to hold Morocco accountable for its ongoing violations in the occupied territory of Western Sahara and to support the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.

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