Mohamed Mayara

Background and Work

Mohamed Mayara is a Sahrawi journalist and human rights defender working in occupied Western Sahara. His advocacy centres on the rights of the Sahrawi people, whose territory has been under Moroccan control since the 1970s.

In 2005, Mayara co-founded the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Serious Human Rights Violations (ASVDH), one of the first organisations in the territory dedicated to documenting abuses against Sahrawis. Four years later, in 2009, he helped establish Équipe Média, a media and advocacy platform focused on raising international awareness about human rights conditions in Western Sahara.

Both organisations operate in a highly restrictive environment. Moroccan authorities maintain tight control over the occupied territory, routinely surveilling, harassing, and prosecuting those who challenge the official narrative or document state abuses. Mayara's work places him in direct conflict with that control.

The Expulsion from Cape Bojador

On 9 October 2024, Mayara and fellow defender Ahmed Ettanji travelled to Cape Bojador, a coastal town in occupied Western Sahara, to visit family. Upon arrival at a local checkpoint, Moroccan authorities detained them for approximately one hour before releasing them without charge.

When the two men reached the home of Mayara's family, they found Moroccan police already waiting. The Police Commissioner of Cape Bojador, auxiliary forces, and occupation authorities had surrounded the house. The officials threatened Mayara and Ettanji with arrest and ordered them to leave the town immediately.

The host family was also targeted. Police threatened to search the home as punishment for sheltering the two defenders. Under pressure, Mayara and Ettanji were forced to leave Cape Bojador and return to Laayoune the same day. The family visit did not take place.

Pattern of Harassment and Restriction

The October 2024 expulsion is part of a broader pattern of restrictions imposed on Western Saharan human rights defenders by Moroccan authorities. Defenders in the territory routinely face travel bans, surveillance, arbitrary detention, forced displacement, and intimidation of their families and associates.

Mayara has been subjected to these tactics for years. The targeting extends not only to his work as a journalist and documenter but also to his personal life, including his ability to move freely within the territory and visit family.

Moroccan authorities deploy these measures to isolate defenders, disrupt their work, and deter others from supporting them. The criminalisation of solidarity — threatening those who host or associate with defenders — is a deliberate tactic to cut off networks of support.

Context and International Obligations

Western Sahara remains one of the most restricted environments for human rights work in the region. Moroccan control over the territory is contested under international law, yet Moroccan authorities enforce domestic laws with little accountability and routinely deny access to independent monitors.

Defenders like Mayara operate with no meaningful legal protection. Documentation work is treated as subversion, journalism as incitement, and even private family visits are subject to state interference when the individuals involved are perceived as threats to the official narrative.

Morocco is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, both of which guarantee freedom of movement, freedom of expression, and the right to advocate for human rights. The expulsion from Cape Bojador and the broader restrictions on Mayara's movement and work violate those obligations.