Mohamed al-Bambary

Mohamed al-Bambary (1969/70) is a Sahrawi media activist. He was arrested and charged with "belonging to a criminal gang, taking part in a murder, contributing to a public disturbance, battery resulting in death, vandalism of public property, and assaulting officials in the performance of their duties,”. Initially sentenced to twelve years imprisonment, his term was reduced to six years following a re-trial.

Background Mohamed al-Bambary is a media activist affiliated with Equipe Media, which is one of Western Sahara's foremost independent news sources.

International Response In January 2016, Paloma López Bermejo, a member of the European Parliament from Spain, asked a question in parliament about “the arbitrary detention of the journalist and political prisoner Mohamed al-Bambary” to the Vice-president of the European Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.

In May 2017, Freedom Now and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights submitted a petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Mohamed al-Bambary. In June 2018, the Working Group determined that his detention is arbitrary and violates international law.