Minetu Handi Dan and Banat Saguia: Geneva Actions for Sahrawi Political Prisoners and Self-Determination (2018–2025)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/11/21
Minetu Handi Dan is the President of Banat Saguia. Since 2018, the Banat Saguia has organized annual demonstrations in Geneva demanding justice for Sahrawi political prisoners held by Moroccan authorities. These prisoners, many arrested after the peaceful 2010 Gdeim Izik protest, face harsh sentences without credible evidence. The association, comprised of Sahrawi women, travels across Europe, raising awareness amid international media silence. They highlight how men, women, and youth are all targeted for demanding fundamental rights. Though no Sahrawi women are currently imprisoned, families continue to suffer. The group calls for urgent action, humanitarian intervention, and the release of those imprisoned for defending Sahrawi self-determination.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is the purpose of the work here?
Minetu Handi Dan: Today, we are here in Geneva, and since 2018, we have been holding this demonstration to demand justice for our brothers who are unjustly imprisoned by Moroccan authorities. We are here once again to call for justice for the Sahrawi people—justice for the political prisoners.
We are a group of Sahrawi women travelling to many European capitals, trying to raise awareness and visibility for the Sahrawi cause, particularly for the Sahrawi political prisoners held in Moroccan prisons. Today, another year later, we return. We hope and wish to be heard—that the voices of these political prisoners will reach Geneva and that justice will be served.
Our goal is to support the release of our brothers who are in feeble health, suffering in severe and degrading conditions, and forgotten—buried, in a sense, in prison cells far from their families. They are not guilty of any recognized crime. Their only “offence” was advocating for the right to self-determination for the Sahrawi people, who have been under Moroccan control since 1975 following Spain’s withdrawal from Western Sahara.
That is the sole reason our brothers are imprisoned. We are going to different countries to raise awareness and demand visibility for the Sahrawi political prisoners. As seen in the case records, many have received harsh sentences, ranging from ten years to life imprisonment.
There is no legitimate justification for their imprisonment and severe punishment. The majority were involved in the peaceful protest known as the Gdeim Izik camp in 2010, which gathered thousands of Sahrawi civilians near El Aaiún to demand fundamental rights: access to employment, housing, and the fair distribution of natural resources. After Moroccan security forces dismantled the camp by force, dozens of protesters were arrested, and 25 were later tried by a military court in 2013, a process widely criticized by international human rights organizations for its lack of due process and credible evidence.
This situation is a disgrace. It is deeply troubling that demanding your people’s freedom and expressing political views results in such lengthy prison terms. This is what we ask wherever we go: Why? Why are peaceful protests not allowed in the occupied zones of Western Sahara?
Why does MINURSO—the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara—exist if it does not monitor or report on human rights violations? In the occupied areas of Western Sahara, it is effectively forbidden to protest or demand freedom. The clearest example is the continued imprisonment of Sahrawis, who participated in the Gdeim Izik camp.
We suffer under media silence. That is why the Sahrawi cause remains unrecognized, mainly on the world stage.
Jacobsen: I see a large number of images with sentences for purported crimes, such as “sentenced to 10 years,” “sentenced to 25 years,” or “sentenced to life.” What are the purported crimes?
Dan: And, of course, if the media does not talk about the political prisoners, no one will ever know about them. That is why we travel to all the European capitals. We try to organize demonstrations and give talks at universities to give voice and visibility to these young men. Because we suffer, and the cause in general suffers, from complete media silence.
So, naturally, for that reason, no one knows about them. Very few media outlets—if any—have ever covered their stories, and it is a shame. It is very sad. That someone, for doing nothing more than standing up for dignity, ends up spending years, even a life sentence, in prison—and the world looks the other way, as if nothing is happening. That is why we organize these demonstrations.
Jacobsen: Are there gendered and age-related aspects to this? How are men, women, the young, and the old treated differently in this context?
Dan: Yes, in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, not even women, children, or older people are spared from the threat of imprisonment. Everyone who speaks out, who takes to the streets, receives their punishment. Many women have been imprisoned in the past. Today, thankfully, there are no Sahrawi women currently in prison, but there have been women who have gone through Moroccan prisons—many women—who have spent years and years in that situation.
Now, they are targeting the youth. They want young Sahrawis to leave the territory or to remain silent. Anyone who claims their rights becomes a target. The suffering of Sahrawi women continues, even if they are not the ones behind bars. Because their brothers are imprisoned, their husbands, sons, and children are also. So, they suffer all the same—they are punished all the same. That is why, although there may not be women in prison today, the pain remains very present.
There have been many women who have gone through this situation and have spent many years in Moroccan prisons. Well, our objective—today and always—is the immediate release of our brothers who are imprisoned. We are here today as we are every year. We want freedom for the Sahrawi political prisoners. That is our goal—our hope.
As an organization, we have been doing this since 2018. We come every year. We do the same every year, and we continue waiting. However, we have received no response. We sincerely and wholeheartedly hope to be heard. We hope someone will be sent to visit our brothers in prison because they are deprived of everything: family visits, access to healthcare, and their fundamental rights.
What we want is for someone to help us, to listen to us, and to act—quickly—for the sake of our imprisoned brothers. That is what we hope for, that is what we wish for, and that is why we come from many parts of Europe to be here, to demand the release of the prisoners.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time today, Minetu.
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