Western Saharan human rights defenders Brahim Sabbar and Ahmed Sbai were brutally assaulted while in detention in the Laâyoune Civil, ‘Black Prison’ on 19 January 2007.
Reportedly, a number of police from the Mobile Intervention Forces entered a cell where the two human rights defenders and 16 other political prisoners were being detained and violently beat the prisoners with batons.
Front Line is particularly concerned for the safety of Brahim Sabbar, who apparently had his leg broken during the attack and has not been given access to medical treatment. The attack followed a month of demonstrations by the human rights defenders and the political prisoners at the “Black Prison”.
Brahim Sabbar is the Secretary General of the Association Sahraouie des Victimes des Violations Graves des Droits de l’Homme Commises par l’Etat du Maroc (ASVDH). He was arrested with Sbai Ahmed, a member of the Advisory Council of the ASVDH and a member of the Comité pour la Protection des Détenus de la Prison Noire, on 17 June 2006 in Boujdour, Western Sahara, following an inaugural meeting of the Boujdour branch of the ASVDH. 
