08/31/18 08/31/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: today a democracy now! exclusive. we're in occupied western sahara, in laayoune, the capital of what many call africa's last colony. morocco occupieded western sahaa more t than 40 years ago in 197. four days inin western sahara: africa's last colony. >> as sahrawi women, we're not backing off until we get our final victory and liberate our

homeland. the beatings will not deter us from continuing the fight, and even if we die, it will be a sacrifice, so that our sons and future generations can live in the freedom that we've been denied. amy: in the special report democracy now! breaks the media , blockade and goes to occupied western sahara in the northwest corner of africa to document the decades-long sahrawi strglgle against t morocco's violent crackdown. >> i have a daughter who is seven years old so i told her when she asked me about mymy father. i tried to teach her that one day i will face the same fate so i'm always waiting. amy: allll of that in more, comg up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. today a democracy now! special, four days in westetern sahara -- africa's last colony. western sahara, wherpepeaceful protesters, led by women, are beaten in the streets. thousands have been tortured, imprisoned, killed, and disappeared while resisting the moroccan occupatioion. >> he jabbed right at my eye with his baton. i was yelling at him, "hey, you moroccan! you pulled out myy eye!" amy: where natural resources are plundered from phosphates to fish. >> i say t that our damnmnation comes s from the natatural resos that we e have here. if it wasn't for these natural resources, morocco never would have invaded western sahara. amy: where a massive wall

divides a people, the sahrawi, the native population, denied a vote for self determination. elghalia djimi: if we don't speak out -- especially us as victims who have suffered all of this -- if we don't speak out and defend our cause this problem will remain. amy: western sahara, t the centr ofof a four-decades-s-long strue for r independence frorom moroc, its neigighbor to the north.h. morocccco has occupipied the territory since 1975 in defifiae of the uted d naons and the internatnanal counity.y. thstory y western s sahara is one of colonialism, plunder and resistance. it is also story that is rarely told in the international media. and it is here in western saha where thscholar no chomsky sayshe arab spng first ban in late 2010, before the upsings in tisia and ept. noam chomsky: the moroccan forceses came in, dedestroyedhe

tent cities, a lot of kieded and wounded d d so o and then it spread. amy: but the strugglgle in westn sahara datates back muchch long. fonearly a century, western sahara was colonizedy y spain. but t the spanish h occupation d in5 -- 1975,5, setting off a a regional f fight. on o october 31, 1 1975, bothh morocco frfrom the nth a and mauritanan from the e south ininvaded westerern sahara as sn withdrdrew. days after m moroccan troooops ininvaded, king g hassan the s d ordered hundndreds of thousandsf mororoccan citizenens to enter western saharara in what bececae known as thehe green march. mamauritania wouould withdraw ws ththan four years later, but morocco has remained to this day. just days after the moroccan invasion, secretary of state henry kissinger privately told president gerald ford he hoped hoped for a "rigged un vote" at

the security council to confirm moroc's clclm over western sahara. ababout half of f the sahrawii population f fled the invavasioo neighboring algeria,a, where thy settled inin refugee camamps ine middle of f the desert.. the moroccan invasion seoff a 16-year-r-long war witith the sahrawi i liberation m movement known n as the polario front. morocco's army, with the help of u.s. military aid, drove t the polilisario to wesestern sahar's eaststern sert.. momorocco then created t woror's longest m minefield and b builte secondnd-longest wall l on eart, with the h help of u.s. weapons companies northrup and westinghouse. the nearly 1700-mile wall divides sahrawis who remain under occupation from those who fled into exile. the moroccccan governmenent begn decades of torture disappearances, killings and repression against pro-independen s sahrawis livi in the occupd d terrory.y.

in 1 1991, the u.n. sponsored a ceasefefire and prpromised sahas a referendum on self-determination, organized by its peacekeeping mission known as minurso. since then, morocco has blocked attetempts to organize the vote, and the un security council has refused to implemement its own referendum plan or allow minurso to monitor the human rights situation in the territory. today,y, no country y recognizes moroccan sovereignty over western saha, one of theost inaccessible places in the world. and the international media has largely nored the cupation, in part beuse morocchas routinely blocked d journalistss from enterering western sahara. but in late 2016, democracy now! successfully broke the news blockade. we were in m marrakesh, morocc for the e united nations climate change conference.

with un credentials andnd u.s. passports, we decided to take a chance a and attempt to do whato foreign television crew has done in years -- report from africa's last colony. i'm amy goodman, this is democracy now! we just landed in laayoune, the capital of western sahara, africa's last colony. hoping to report from here, occupied by morocco for more than 40 years. we're at the airport now. we'll see what happens. i speaking quietly on the airplane because journalists, even western journalists, are rarely allowed into western sahara. we don't know ifif this is the

moment we'll be turned back, as so many others have been. maybe it's the un press badges around our necks. maybe it's our u.s. passports. or maybe it's just that our arrival was so unexpected. but after a check of our documents and a few questions, we're waived through customs. outside the aiairport, we climb ininto a car driven byby jamal,r translator and guide. >> it's very nice to meet you. amy: so who are the plainclothes officers at the airport? >> those are security officers. some of them belong to different departments. amy: jamal says we've been observed by local police, the moroccan secret service, and intelligence agents. so welcome to laayoune! the airport is so close, so nearby. amy: we arrive at the hotel salwan, knowing that the receptionist is obliged to inform the police of our presence. we check in quickly and immediately prepare to interview

sahrawi activists in one of our rooms. we donon't know how many hours r minutes we will have to record before the authohorities arrive. soon a small contingent of sahrawis enters. first interview is with journalist mohamed mayara. he speaks in hushed tones about the torture and murder his family faced at the hands of the moroccan authorities. >> i father was among four wheners who w were kididnapped morocco invaded the western sahara. he was arrested in february 27, 1976. i was two months. he was kidnapped and then they sent him to a secret jail, well known by the sahrawis in southern morocco. hehe spent one year and six mons and he was killed under torture.

amy: w what kind o of risk do te speaking to a western journalist like me? >> i have a daughter who is seven years old, so i told her when she asked me e about my father -- i tried to tell herr that my father was kidnapped and tortured and etc. i tried to teach her that one day i will face the same fate so i'm always waiting. amy: why do you take t that ris? think it is engagement, this is the duty of freedom. amy: the work of mohamed mayara's citizen journalist group equipe med is docucunted in the fil "ththe stolen cameras." it shows the gruesome fatete ofa sahrawi i cameraman whwho was pd

off a rooftop by policice aftere was spotted d filming a blbloody crackdkdown on a peaeaceful pro. >> suddedenly, an undercover policemaman had detected me on a rooftop. they suddenly appeed and pushed me over the edge. as i fell downwn on the street,i broke my leg.. other licemen n dragged me o the ground. a bit further down the street, there was a buburning tire. they pulled me over it. itit was no accident.

they wanted to demonstrate their power and show what happens to those who try to break the media blockade. amy: f fing this kind of violenence against t those who document morococco's crcrackdown dissent, i it's remamarkable ttt these sahrawis were willing to speak with us. we also meet journalist hayat khatari.i. can n media operate rere in weststern sahara? can you have your own media? >> we are very much h harassed. the most rececent episode was wn my sister nazha al-khalidi had her camera confiscated. and then they arrested her. and she e was brutallyly treatey the authorities ovover 24 hourin the police station. that's apart from when she was trying to videotape a peaceful demonstration n at the beach o f foum a al-oued.

amy: it is now past midnight. not long after we finish our interviews, we get a phone call. ththe hotel receptionist tells s the polilice are in the hotell lobby, demanding to see us. we make our way downstairs. two men in plain clothes tell us to sit down and warn us against reporting in western sahara. we go back upstairs and soon after we learn a pro-moroccan government website called sahara zoom had published details about our trip, including information about the ininterviews we e hade in our hotel room that night. the message was clear -- we are watching you. this is a democracy now! special four days in western sahara, africa's last colony. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is a democracy now! special, four days in western sahara, africa's last colony. i am amy goodman. it's day two of our t trip to layoununne, the capital of westn sahara. despite warnings against reporting from here, we set off for the offices of a human rights group. we carry all of our possessions with us, assuming our hotel rooms could be searched or we could be deported at a moment's notice. everywhere we go, we're followed. we just left our hotel. a man with a motorcycle just outside, as we came out, he started texting. now he's a little bit behind us, keeping a careful distance, but we have security on our tail. we have made a left and a right and a u-turn and the man on a motorcycle is right behind.

everywhere we drive are the posters, the billboards of the king. that's the moroccan king, king mohammed vi. we have arrived at the only moroccan-accepted non-profit here in laayoune. there's clearly security sitting right next to the door. the motorcyclist, the so-called security, is right behind us. the human rights organization has a long name. asvdh stands for "the sahrawi association of victims of grave human rights violations committed by thehe moroccan state." the walls of its office are lined with posters and photographs showing the names and faces of the imprisoned, the disappeared, the now dead. >> my name is elghalia djimi. i a former victim of forced am disappearance. i'm the vice president of the sahrawi association here.

that's where we are right now. it's our association that traces the e files of sahrawi disappearance victctims. today, november 20, marks the anniversary of my forced disappearance which took place in 1987. amy: elghalia djimi, describe what happened to you. >> what hahappened to me h happd to all the vicictims. specifically, the pictures that abu ghraib prison in iraq, they made me feel that i lived the same thing, that i underwent the same conditions, but in darkness. at that time there was nobody to take pictures of us. there was nobody to talk about us. amy: elghalia djimi shows us her arm left scarred after her captors unleashed a dog on her. >> i still bear the marks of the dog bites right here. amy: who did this to you? >> it was the moroccan state and the moroccan police. the secret police. the same thing they did to me

they did to my grandmother before in 1984, when she was kidnapped, and so far we don't know anything about what happened to her. i was stripped naked completely. the worst part of the torture, as a muslim and an arab, is that i was stripped naked. i lost all my hair because of the chemicals they used on my head, which they left on me for two months and 27 days. amy: elghalia djimi sinks to the floor as she continues to describe her torture in moroccan police custody >> one of the torturers would put water onto my face, which was covered with a rag, until i started asphyxiating. and then he would slap my face until i would breathe again. amy: are you saying they waterboarded you? >> yes. they poured water on my face until i asphyxiated.

and then one of them who was at my feet would beat me with a baton. then, in the same area, they had a small hole filled water where they put me. and then they would bring an electric generator, and they would electrocute me using that technique, in my fingers and in my ears. they threatened me with rape, to kill me with a pistol to the head, and to brainwash me. amy: you were tortured 30 years ago. do you feel you are taking a risk when you speak out? >> i am not afraid. i took a vow that we have to talk about this issue. if we don't speak out, especially as as victims who have suffered all of this, if we don't speak out and defend our cause, this problem will remain.

amy: our intnterview is interrupted when our guide jamal receives an urgent phone call. we've been summoned to appear before the most powerful man in laayoune. we get back into our car and head for his residence. once again, we're followed by a man on a motorcycle. are we about to be deported? titime after timime, journalisie turnrned back as t they try to r western saharara. likeke 12 spanish repoporters deportrted from laayoune's airpt after their r arrival in 201010 includinghe renowned radio reporter angels s barcelo. >>very time e they turned us away we e go until the storyn air. go and say we have tried i it again and today they y sent us awaygagain. amy:y: and the spapanish jrnrnas beard mimillet.

>> they inspected alall myear r- cacamera phohotoaphs - -and they madede merase e otos that according to thewere incriminining. amy: and humuman rights observrs are deported as well, li europeanararliamenrianan wil meyeyer. spanish lawmaker xabier ron. a norwegiaian delegationon heldn bus anand expelled i in 2016, ad many otherers. all of t them ied anand iled too do whatt we e d someho m manage, to make it into western sahara to report on the occupation. >> we're going to see the governor. his name is yahdih bouchaab. he's the wali, actually we call him the wali. it's a much superior position to the governor. he's appointed by the king, so amy: the wali is a sahrawi, a former member of the polisario front. he now works for the moroccan monarchy, overseeing a security

apparatus that seeks to crush the sahrawi independence movement. we arrive at his fortified compound, and are escorted inside by armed guards -- afraid we're about to be expelled from the territory. >> this is the residency of the governor, the wawali. ok, let's go please. amy: inside the wali's residence, we're seated, and served tea, dates and nuts, as the wali tells us in no uncertain terms that we're not allowed to practice journalism in western sahara. >> if you have the authorization, i would b be more than glad to provide this interview. second position, if i am retired, i can even come to your station in the u.s. and to deliver that interview. i would be more than glad. but now, as far as you have no authorization -- amy: despite the wali's warnings, i continue to question by quote from a human rights

watch report titled "keeping it secret", about morocco's efforts to block access to minurso, that's the un mission for a referendum on the status of western sahara. minurso's staff members including military observers are subjected to constant surveillance by morocco. this and internal pressure from minurso made them reluctant, even f frightened, to speak to r organization, which is human rights watch, except on the explicit condition of anonymity. moroccan security forces, this is human rights watch -- >> human r rights watch. it that bible? amy: no, but -- >> i is that quran? amy: no, i'm asking are you disagreeing with this? >> i disagree completely. they are working for an agenda here. what thehey have said about the other party? amy: moroccan security forces tried to prevent human rights watch from entering the u.n. headquarters, stating that entry was forbidden to non-minurso staff, unless it had been cleared with local moroccan authorities first.

moroccan authorities' harassment of human rights watch as well as their r strict surveillance of s activities impeded the organization's abilility to conduct a thorough investigation of human rights. >> anything, they say just anything just to make things exciting. amy: let me ask you another question which is of concern to many people in the human rights community, which is the issue of the protests here being cracked down on. people being beaten of arrested. >> that's a good thing. if you are talking about peaceful demonstration, i am with it. completely. we appreciate to see people demonstrating and to provide ththeir opinions. amy: but p people got injured. people -- >> you will see by yourself. amy: so you're saying people are not being hurt in the demonstrations. >> we will see who was hurt.

it isemonstrations completely anarchy. amy: as i continue to press him on human rights, he loses his temper. >> you talk about human rights, human rights even in united states you don't have them. yet more than one million people living in the underground in new york, and they are eating rats. and when they are sick, they are eaten by the rats. amy: that's true. >> democracy now! you have to , wowork on itit in guantananamd everywhere. amy: that's a very important point. >> that's it. i think i was very happy to see you -- amy: with that, we're dismissed, and warned against continuing to report from western sahara. >> american people will be ready

always to mix their blood for the dignity of man and the freedom of the countries. amy: during our discussion the wali repeatedly mentioned the close u.s.-moroccan relationship which dates back to 1777 when morocco became the first nation to recognize the united states. while the u.s. has never recognized moroccan sovereigntny overestern sahara, washington has plplayed a pivototal role in shoring up morocco's occupation. in addition to secretary of state henry kissinger hoping for a rigged vote at the united nations security council regarding western sahara, president jimmy carter's state department in 1979 gave $200 million to the u.s. company northrop page communications to build intrusion detectionystem for the neararly 1700 mile-w-wal morocccco built in w western sa, whwhich is lineded with an estsd million lalandmines.

a year laterer carter provided , morocco o with $230 0 millionn military aid. it's been a barartisan fairir ever since >>is majesty bried me onis efrts to rch a peaful ttlementf the conflicin the western sahara, and i expressed mymy admiration for hs support. amy: after the cold war ended, morocco became a key u.s. ally in the so-called war on terror. in 2004,4, president george w. bubush designated mororocco to a major non-nato ally of the united statetes, opening t the r fofor moreilititary als. anand the money y has flowed b h waways. the statate-owned moroccan fossae company ocp, which operates in western sahara, donated as much as $12 million to thehe clinton foundation prir to the 2016 election. and the wali proudly pulled up a photo on his cell phone from

january of 1992, showing donald trump, his soon-to-be wife marla maples, and moroccan king hassan ii at trump's prime property the plaza hotel in new york. jump forward a quarter of a century to to now-president trump's disgraced environmental protection agency administrator scott pruitt. prior to his resignation, pruitt took a controversial $100,000 trip to morocco in december 2017 where he met with the head of morocco's state-owned mining company. pruitt's trip was arranged by a lobbyist, richard smotkin, who accompanied pruitt and helped set up meetings for him. as we drive through the streets of laayoune, everywhere are signs of occupation. the city was built up under spain's fascist dictator, francisco franco, and has been

occupied by morocco since the mid-1970's. we pass the united nations' minurso compound, where just over 200 un peacekeepers monitor the 1991 ceasefire between morocco and the polisario, but are legally prevented from intervening to stop human rights abuses. and we drive past the high walls of the notorious black prison, where generations of sahrawis have been detained, tortured, and disappeared. one of them is sahrawi independence activist hmad hammad, who welcomes us into his home. over tea, he describes his torture at the hands of the moroccan authorities during his years spent as a political prisoner. >> they linked electrodes to my ears, and something to my underarms, and to my tongue. and then other sensitive parts.

i was bound. and when they used that manual generator, i would hear it cranking. each time they cranked that generator up, i felt that my heart was going to burst out of my body. amy: the un's secretary-general ban ki-moon called the moroccan presence in western sahara an occupation. what was your response? >> my answer is clear. we are a people. we have a homeland. we have a culture. we have all the things that constitute a country. we're very different from the moroccans. it's impossible for us to be moroccans. we have no common history. and there is nothing that links us to them whatsoever. i say that our damnation comes from the natural resources we have here. if it wasn't for these natural resources, morocco would never

have invaded western s sahara wh the support t of spain andnd fr. amy: wesesrn sahara is a territorrich in turaral sources,hich morocco has exploited d since the 191975 invasionon, desespite internanal court rulings establisngng that the e kingm has s noovereigngn over the t territory. mororocco controlsls the majorif the woworld's rereserves of phosphates, , a mineral usededn fertililizers that''s criticicao feededinthe worlrld. phososphate is traransported moe than 6 60 miles along the wowo's longest conveyor belt, from mines in the desert to the port of laayoyoune, where i it's load ononto cargo ships bound for the u.s., canada, and countries around the world. western sahara's fishing waters are among the richest on earth, supplying the european union with much of its seafood. foreign energy companinies cocontinue to explore for o offe oioil, even though the u.n. says

the prospecting violates international law. even western sahara's sand is sold, loaded onto ships bound for european resesorts. a pair of recent rulings by europe's highest court declared that wesestern sahara is not a part of morocco and that european trade deals cannot include products from the occupied territory. ships carrying phosphates from western sahara have been held up in ports in panama and south africa after the polisario challenged ownership of the cargo, claiming that it belongns to the s sahrawi people. sahrawis are fighting the plunder through peaceful demonstrations and through the courts. when they hold protests in their refugee camps in algeria, thousands turn out to oppose foreign companies profiting from the occupation, like the european oil and gas driller san leon energy. but when sahrawis protest in

occupied western sahara, they're routinely met with violence by morrocan authorities. it's still day 2 of our trip to western sahara. as we cross town to meet with more sahrawi independence activists, once again, we are followed by a man on a motorcycle. we arrive, making our way past pro-independence grafiti and meet an icon of the sahrawi resistance. sultana khaya drapes herself in the red, white, black and green flag of western sahara. just holding this flag in public is enough to get an activist beaten and arrested. >> my naname is sultana khaya. i i was born under moroccan n re in the occupied city of bojador. i live just like any other sahrawi woman who was s subjectd

to torture and beatings, and in my opinion, my case was milder than others. amy: in 2007, sultana was peacefully protesting with fellow college students at a university in marrakech, morocco whenen police surrounded her. >> may 9 was an anniversary that all sahrawis should celebrate. of sahrhrawiroup 500 students. we lefeft the university campus marching. peacefullyly, waving flags, anad chanting, "there are no alternatives to self dedetermination!" they sealed off the street and we were besieged in it. amy: as tear gas spread, sultana was beaten by police -- one of whom singled her out for more abuse. >> one of them recognized me. and he jabbed right at my eye with his baton. when he did that, i bent over, and i could feel my eyeball in my hand. i wawas yelling at him, "hey, yu moroccan, you pulled out my eye!"

amy: sultana's ordeal continued in an ambulance as she was totortured on her way to a hospital. >> i told them i had a hemorrhage in my eye. he tried to put his finger into my eye socket. i didn't get any medical treatment until the next morning at 11:00 when a group of moroccans came to me telling someone to sew up my eye. because when i was in the ambulance, another woman was crying and telling me, "your eye is gone!" they were trying to sew up my eye so other women could see it and think twice before getting involved in activism. they wanted to make an example of me. amy: do you have confidence that western sahara will become an independent nation? >> thahat's for sure, , becausee dedetermination of the people is invincible. what we've got is true. we've lost many men and women over thihis. one day it shall be liberated. amy: even losing her e eye has t stopped sultana khayaya from contntuing her p protests for western saharan independence as

we will w witness for o ourselvs eveven during our short stay in western sayer. ♪ [ [music break] this is a democracy now! special, four days in western sahara, africa's last colony. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is a democracy now! special four days in western sahara, afafrica's last colony. on day three of our trip to laayoune, the capital of western sahara, we invite a sahrawi activist to our hotel. hamma el qoteb was stopped b by the hotel's receptionist as he tried to enter. she called authorities to report an unregistered visitor,

forbiddingng him from coming upstairs. after we push hard and threaten to leave the hotel, she relents and says s he could spek to us for fiveve minutes. hamma el qoteb arrived clutching a photo of his brother, who was forcibly disappeared in 1992. he's been searchihing for him er since. >> this is my brother who was abducted on november 7, 1992 by moroccan playing close police at 5:00 in the morning. it was because of his involvement in the demonstration at the hotel on november 6. they woke us up very early the next morning. and the situation was very ugly. plainclothes policemen came to our house, and they abducted him. amy: where was he taken to?

>> the information that we have isis inconclusive because we didn't t see anything. and the rest of the people who were abducted with him -- around 500 people -- were blindfolded. my brother, and our neighbor's son -- we don't know anything about ththem. hundreds were releleased but abt 200 were kept therere. amy:y: how did hafed's didisappearance affectct your family? >> it was a landmine that exploded within the family. his presence was the glue that united us. my father had diabetes. and because of the insults he heard the day of the abduction, he became paralyzed and remained that way for the rest of his life. my mother would not dare to enter the home again, and she stayed with my other siblings for a year. amy: howow were your brothers ad sisters affected by hafed's disappearance? >> it deeply affected them, and had a great impact on them emotionally because they were very young at that time. they witnessed all the

atrocities related to the abduction. they have e always had this fear inside of them, these bad memories that have been left in the backs of their minds. also, i was a victim of this, too. because when i was getting ready to go to geneva to participate in the un human rights council, they confiscated my passports. for five years i couldn't recover my passport. i call u upon all the free world and alall the e people in the wd to help us reveal the truth about my brother's whereabouts. i call upon the moroccan government to reveal the fate of all our sons. y: on october 9, 2010, tens of thouousands sahrawawis fed up wh decades of occupation erteted a large protest encampment in the desert outside of f laayoune. known n as "gdeim izizik," the p

preceded the arab spring and quickly grew to include whol famies living ong thousas of tents this is man rightsctivist naamasfari laying out the prprotesters dememands. >> freedom o of speech, freedomo demonstrate, the rigight to housining, the rightht to work,t in t legal conontext of the territorieies of westernrn sahas nonenenomists territories. amy:y:peaking on democracyow!, renowned a author and acactivist noam chomsky called the gdeim izik uprisg the starof the arab spring. >> the current wave of p protess acactually beganan last novembmn western sahara, which is under moroccan rule after a brutal invasion and occupation. the e moroccanororces came i in, rried d t -- deroyed d nt cicities, a lot t of killed anad wounded d and so on. and then it spreadad.

amy: on n november 8, 202010, moroccanan forces useded tear g, clubs, andndater cannons to force the protesters from thrr tents bebefore firing lilive ros and d setting the e camp on fir. the popolisario saysys the raid killed 36 peop, with man hundreds more injured and arrested manyere tortur in custod inuding 23 aivists whoere accused of contribibuting to the violence. ththey were trieied, convicteded giveven harsh sentntences in juf 2017.. it was t t latest chapter in a long historyry of repressision against hrawis at e hands of moroccan forces. many of those detained were represented by sahrawi lawyer mohamed lahbib erguibi. he's a former activist who was disappeared in moroccan prisons for 16 years. he is also the brother of the recently deceased polisario leader mohamed abdelaziz.

erguibi is one of just four sahrawi lawyers permitted by morocco to try cases in court. >> the first stage of the ararrests were made theranand ty were brutal l beyond imaginatio. they used an extensive number of strange tools for torture and beatings. some of the prisoners wewere evn forced to drink their own urine. they showed up before the interrogation judge covered in blood. amy: why was gdeim izik such a turning point? what happened? why were people protesting? >> gdeim izik was a turning point because it was a very genuine form of mass protest like western sara hahanever witnessed, nor h h the rest of the world.d. amy: some have c called it the first arab sprining, before tunisia and d before egypt.

>> yes, without any doubt, this was the beginning of the arab spring. every memedia outlet after gde izik cld only talk about how well-organized, wellananaged, and d well-preparered the proten westerern sahara wasas. and from here it sprd d to tunisia and egypt. so of course when n the american academic noted that this was the beginning of the arab spring, he was corrrrect. amy: after leaving mohamed lahbib erguibi's office, we drive to a restaurant near the airport for dinner. as usual, we're followed. sosoe set downwn here a at a rerestaurantnt near ththe airpon laayoune. we came into a vast, empty restaurant.

and within about 15 minutes after we ordered, about 100, mainly men, some women, dressed in traditional west saharan dress carrying moroccan flags, all came in and they satat down all around us. one has an english sign that says, "shame on you." when our translator jamal got up to see what was going on, plainclothesmen, not in traditional dress, came up to him and said they want to speak to amy goodman when we're done. our car has been hemmed in by a number of cars, and we also hear there's a protest in anoth part of the city w where one of the people we interviewed was beaten up. >> he just called me, he said he was beaten up now at the peaceful demonstration at smara boulevard. who? amy: >> hamma el qoteb. amy: who we talked to yesterday? some of the people here came over very close to us and took teachers. we're eager to leave so we can

find out what happened to hamma el qoteb and other protesters across town. but the moment we stand up, we''re followed d out of t the restauaurant by the crd.d. outdoors, we'rere surrounded on all sides and prevented from driving away. the pro-morocco protesters unfurl large, custom banners printed on vinyl. they're starkly reminiscent of a banner photographed at a moroccan state-sponsored protest against un secretary-general n n ki-mooin march of 201016, after banan usd the word "occupation." back at the restaurant, those new, white vinyl banners share the same back-and-red lettering. one of them has a photo of me interviewing a sahrawi activist, with the caption "shame on you" we're standing here outside of a restaurant that we came to near the airport called "omaima" as a group of 50, 60, 70 people in

west saharan dress have descended on the restaurant carrying signs that say "shame youru," local journalist person of aldrich," google yes for the american, moroccan, french." i thought we would start by talking to one of the organizers who is a freelance journalist who trained in rhode island. so, if you could tell us your name? >> yeah, by the way i'm not one of the organizers. i'm just volunteering with the people, my fellow sahrawi, to talk to you about what they think of your visit and about general issues related to the issue for south sahara. amy: and how did you know i was at this restaurant? >> as you know, this is a small town and everybody knows everybody. whenever a foreign delegation comes to the area, everybody is aware of this. amy: it was an empty restaurant. we just can add five minutes before. >> no, this is a restaurant which is well-known to the people. for example, when maybe one of my cousins was there, --

immediately check why they are here. amy: and you're just sitting with 60 people in west saharan dress? >> no the people are gathering. they told me to volunteer with them for the interpretation. amy: as we speak with basheer dahy, a number of men in plainclothes stand on the perimeter taking photos and video,o, and speaking on cell phones. a local activist would later identify some of them as members of the moroccan interior ministry, including at least one official who has been accused of torturing many sahrawis. i'm ben abd al-selka, regional coordinator for the national front for the defense of national integrity in layyoune. i came here to represent my organization, to say that we sahrawis are in our territory and we will do anything to defend it. amy: how did you know i was here? >> because i'm always following the news, and this is something that concerns me. i'm required to know this. amy: was i in the news at this restaurant? >> no. this is normal. we are always aware of who comes

to our territory when it comes to the national cause. amy: who told you i was here? >> this is the main restaurant in my city. i came to visit it, and suddenly i saw you. amy: and you carry moroccan flags everywhere you go? it is very customary to beginning out moroccan flags in the restaurant? >> of course. i'm representing an organization is to defend the national interest. the flags are always in our homes, always on our persons. our flags are always ready, thank god. always prepared. amy: i saw one person carrying the flags and giving them out. >> no, no. we were basically helping him. do you understand me? some of us are responsible for the national flags, others for communication. our work is always organized and ready. amy: now it's getting dark, and we're getting increasingly nervous. the sun sets on the restaurant omaima as the pro-morocco protesters prevent us from leaving for over an hour. it's a clear effort to

intimidate us and to keep us away from the protest across town. when we're finally able to escape, jamal receives a call -- a number of sahrawi activists have b been badly beaten. we race to the home where they're gathered to recover from their injuries. inside, we find a number of women tending to an activist named aziza biza, who's retching and vomiting from her injuries. should she go to the hospital? she is too scared. amy: the activists have recorded video of the protest and the subsequent beatings of rock and forces on cell phones and camcorders. wh our cameras couldn't capture, citizen journalalists' could. we begin downloading their footage as activist mina bali describes what happened. >> because of your presence here, we wanted to have a protest and show you how things

are here, how we are treated. it's been about two years since any journalists have accessed the territory. we came chanting slogans, making peace signs with our fingers, as usual. and then they intervened against us in the street. they were a large group. they pushed us into a narrow street. they took me, one of them grabbed my hair, and he started beating me. he wounded me here, under my nose. he grabbed my breast and continued beating me against the wall. aziza was with me and he struck her in the kidney and hit her head against the wall. and then she fell on the ground at my feet. and ghalia yimani was being dragged there. and sultana khayya.

amy: i'm going to go with the women to see their bruises. they're going to show me, and then we'll see what we can show the camera. we follow sultana into a small bedroom. she pulls back her melfa -- her traditional sahrawi robe -- and shows me fresh bruises on her leg, both arms, and on her breast. sultana, describe what happened to you? >> all of us were partrticipatig as sahrawis in the peaceful demonstrations for our right to self-determination. i was tryi t to gaer m my sisters foththe prest t at 5:00. and e whole area wasesesiege they were insulting us, beating us, dragging us, and using violencece to let us know that e weren't going to be able to protest. they tried to single us out, and pushed us into narrow streets where they could beat us, without anyone observing. what you saw today is nothing compared to what we've witnessed over and over since

1975. but the news never gets out. as sahrawi womomen, we're not backing off until we get our final victory and liberate our homeland. the beatings will not deter us from continuing the fight, and eveven if we die, it will be a sacrifice so that our sons and future generations can live in the freedom that we've been denied. amy: other sahrawis have been injured as well. mahfouda lafkir shows us black and blue bruises on her arms. >> they hit me on the thighs, slapped me on the face and beat me underneath my eye. amy: ghalia yimani pulls back her mehlfa to show us gruesome injuries. both her a arms and both b breas are badly bruiuised. like a number of other w women, shshe's beenen sexually assault. down your arm, you black and blue marks and on your breast, the police grabbebed her and you

see all of the marks f from the black and blueue marks and the d marks. veryry, very painful. >> once they intervened against us, they pulled and twisted me by my breast. and i was screaming out loud, "hey you're hurting my breast!" he d n not care. amy:ext, we et t the man whoho risked his safety to film the assasault on protesters from a a nearby rooftop. hamoud lili is a citizen journalist with the group equipe media. >> my y name hamoud lili. amy: can you describe what you're watching here? >> this is ghalia yimani when a man in plain clothes was pulling her into a n narrow street where they could beat her up. this street, where they usually beat people, has never been recorded before. they forced them here because they knew people were using their cameras to document everything on the main street. so i was lucky to get a clear shot of f what was happening to

mina bali and to aziza biza, but unfortunately, this informer saw me and then notified all the others. happened?hen what >> i tried to move to the next window, out of their sight, but my hiding place was revealed. when they saw me, they tried to break down the door and they stormed the building. the house owner went outside and they beat him up. i fled the house. i closed the door to the rooftop and jumped to another house to save the camera gear. and that was my exit. amy: why are you a media activist? why do you video? >> because there is a total media blackout across the region, and there is no international media to cover everything that's happening to the sahrawis. and we volunteer as activists, so we can transmit the suffering to the outside world through our cameras.

amy: back in the living room, aziziza biza has stoppeded vomig from her injuries s and is propd up on pillows.s. she is able to speak with us withth her husband and t teenage sitting beside her. >> they started beating me up out there and kicking my stomach. then they tried to strangle me by my mehlfa. i felt something around my throat and i couldn't breathe. then i fainted and i don't remember anything. i just remember that i found myself here. amy: you said they kicked you in your kidney? >> yes. and also they kicked me in my head, which already had stitches from a previous beating, and then kicked my rib amy: and yet you still came out for another demonstration. why y is it so important to yoy? >> it is very important for me because i want the liberation of my country. because i want to live like other women in the world, in freedom, and to see my children and my c country free.

amy: what are you calling for? >> i call alall the free world,n -- to help us free our country, to get liberated so that we can live our lives like normal women aroundhe world amy: after leaving the activists, we return to our hotel. it is dadark. we're certain we're under heavy surveillancece. >> there goes s another new car. should we turn off the light yet though amy: soon there is a commotion outside our room on the boulevard below. cacars are making u-turns s oute of our hotel. their drivers are clearly alarmed over something happening further up the street. jamal gets a phone call from mohamed mayara, who describes the police violence he's witnessing nearby. >> i'm seeing police throwing stones and raiding houses. it's not far from you.

amy: we climb a set of stairs to the hotel's rooftop. we spot protesters on a sidewalk below, a few hundred feet away. they begin to scatter just as the hotel's night manager demands we leave. we quietly descend and return to our room. from our window, we spot about a dozen men throwing stones, then turning and running away. moments later, police in riot gear arrived, charging the protesters and throwing rocks of their own. as thehe night wears on, the confrontation between sahrawi activists and the police winds down. we heard later that there had been arrests. we spepend our few remaining hos at the hotel taking precautions to protect the footage we'd recorded over our trip to occupied western sahara, then make our way to the airport. >> now we're leaving the hotel.

amy: at the gate, we pass through a final gauntlet of moroccan mukhabarat, or intelligence agents. as we head to the plane, one of them says, "i hope you had a good time in moroccan sahara." moroccan sahara. that's the term the moroccan government uses, but no country in the world officially recognizes. morocco occupies western sahara, africa's last colony. four democracy now!, i am amy goodman with john hamilton, mike burke and denis moynihan. this has been a democracy now! special, four days in western sahara, africa's last colony was directed by john hamilton and produced with our news director mike burke and denis moynihan special thanks to julie crosby, miriam barnard, brendan allen,

hugh gran and all those who made our way to layounne. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >m