for their safety. The detention of the seven activists was protested by numerous human rights groups. The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights stated that it was monitoring the situation and urged the Moroccan government to "fulfill its obligations to respect for human rights under international law". Front Line Defenders began a letter-writing campaign for the activists to be released "immediately and unconditionally". Human Rights Watch stated, "In the past Morocco has unjustly imprisoned these and many other Sahrawis for their nonviolent political and human rights activism ... And after almost a year behind bars, the world is still waiting for evidence that would justify their detention this time around". Amnesty International lobbied for their release, describing the detention as "politically motivated" and naming them prisoners of conscience. The Olof Palme International Center also spoke out against the arrests and called on the Swedish government to condemn them as well. By 2011, four of the seven were provisionally freed, but Dahane continued to be detained. Prosecutors accused him and the others of receiving money from Algeria "for unlawful purposes". The defendants responded that they had taken money only for travel expenses and had gone to Algeria "for humanitarian and purely human rights reasons." The trial was postponed several times, causing Dahane to ultimately be held for two and a half years without trial. Dahane and fellow detainees Ali Salem Tamek and Ahmed Nasiri were freed on 23 April 2011, just before they were set to begin another hunger strike to protest the conditions of their imprisonment. Per Anger Award Brahim Dahane, won the Per Anger Award for human rights in 2009. He was nominated to the prize by the International Commission of Jurists. He was awarded "in recognition of having demonstrated unwavering personal courage, employed peaceful means and risked his life in the struggle for human rights during the conflict between Morocco and the POLISARIO over Western Sahara". The prize came with a cash award of 150,000 SEK (14,500 euro) and a silver sphere with the weight of a human heart. As he was imprisoned by the Moroccan regime, his sister Aicha Dahane had to travel to Sweden to accept the award on behalf of her brother. See also Ali Salem Tamek Aminatou Haidar Human rights in Western Sahara Mohamed Elmoutaoikil Mohammed Daddach References External links ASVDH - Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations