CAT/C/53/D/321/2007 The facts as submitted by the complainants 2.1 Very early in the morning of 24 December 2006, police officers, gendarmes and members of the auxiliary forces (civilian informers who cooperate with the police in working-class neighbourhoods) conducted a raid in the districts of Aynnada, Takadoum, Ain Sinai, Yousoufia and Khalouia in Rabat and broke into lodgings occupied by immigrants and refugees of sub-Saharan origin. Some 248 people were arrested and taken by force to Aynnada police station. The next day the Assabah newspaper reported that the authorities had conducted the operation as part of their efforts to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking in cooperation with the European Union and the Spanish authorities. Forty-two of the persons arrested had applied for asylum at the Morocco field office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rabat. UNHCR had recognized their status as refugees and had supplied them with documents attesting to that fact. Thirty-four of these 42 individuals are the complainants in this communication.1 2.2 According to the complainants, the police entered their lodgings and arrested them without a warrant. In addition, the police officers damaged the immigrants’ belongings, stole money and personal effects from them, destroyed identity papers and broke doors and windows. The immigrants were then thrust into police vans and driven to the police station. Some of them, such as Thomas Ndombele and Alhassane Soumah, were struck. Gaston Kandu had an anxiety attack at the police station, went into convulsions, lost consciousness and had to be taken to hospital. At the police station, the detainees asked to talk to the police chief so that they could show him the documents issued by UNHCR, but were not allowed to do so. They were not assisted by a lawyer and were not brought before a judge. 2.3 The police officers put the detainees in buses, which left first thing in the morning. The detainees had nothing to eat or drink for several hours, and it was not until 3 p.m. that they were given bread and water. Nor had they been allowed to urinate before setting off. One group arrived at the town of Oujda, some 15 kilometres from the Algerian border, at around 6 p.m. on 24 December. Another group was taken directly to the border area, without passing through Oujda, and arrived at about 8 p.m. These people were then left in the middle of the desert, with no protection, having barely eaten anything and with no warm clothing or food, and were ordered to walk until they reached Algerian territory. Around midnight, a third group also arrived at the border and was abandoned in the same way as the others. They were all warned that they would be shot at if they attempted to return to Morocco. When they tried to enter Algeria, Algerian soldiers fired shots in the air, struck them and forced them back into Moroccan territory. It should be noted that the border in that area has been closed since 1994. The Algerian and Moroccan security forces robbed them of the few belongings they had left, including, in some cases, their shoes. 2.4 The complainants were thus obliged to return to Oujda, walking through the desert in the intense cold of the night, without suitable clothing, some barefoot, and having eaten hardly anything in 24 hours. At least two of the women were raped by unknown gunmen who were in the vicinity. The majority of those who returned to Oujda stayed there for between 4 and 10 days on the premises of either the university or the Catholic church. They were given clothing and food by a Moroccan association and by Médecins sans Frontières. The complaint 3.1 The complainants allege that the acts reported in the above account were committed intentionally and caused them pain and suffering amounting, at the least, to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of article 16, paragraph 1, of the Convention. 1 4 These persons’ UNHCR file numbers, which were assigned to them when they were granted refugee status under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, are included in the complainants’ initial submission. GE.15-00382