In October 2010, a prelude to the popular protests in the Arab world,also known as the “Arab Spring”, the Sahrawi population living inOccupied Western Sahara organized a totally unexpected nonviolentaction. More than 10.000 people joined and formed a peaceful camp15 kilometers east of the capital of Western Sahara, El Aiún, usingSahrawi traditional tents, known by the sahrawis as Khaymas, a symbolof the Sahrawi culture and tradition. Their objective was to denouncetheir political, economic and social situation. Several weeks after itsestablishment, the protest camp was violently dismantled by Moroccansecurity forces. This intervention triggered bloody riots in some cities of Western Sahara.

The camp was burnt down and fights erupted between police and outraged Saharawis. A group of 25 Human Rights Defenders, nowpublicly known as “the Gdeim Izik group” were arrested over theirsupposed participation in the organization of the protest camp. After twoand a half years in arbitrary detention, in February 2013 they weresentenced in a Moroccan military court, most sentences ranging between20 years and lifetime.Today, 19 of the 25 are still in prison. The trial made a mockery of justice.The only proof against them were confessions signed under torture, asreported by the UN working group on arbitrary detention and the UNTorture Committee in individual decisions.Many international human rights organizations such as Human RightsWatch, Amnesty international, Reporters without Borders and Front LineDefenders have condemned the arbitrary detention and the sentencesissued by the Moroccan courts against the Gdeim Izik group, deeming ita detention for “political reasons”.Sahrawis consider Gdeim Izik as an epic and one of the major actionsof resistance in their modern history that symbolizes their unity againstoppression. The “Gdeim Izik group” are seen as a beacon of hope and asymbol of the brutality of the Morocan state against the Sahrawi people.