Khaya Family Siege Updates
NEW! An updated edition of the report published about the 80 day intervention.
Download our report here.
(Content warning: images and descriptions of torture and abuse)
For background information click here.
Donate to support our ongoing efforts to promote nonviolence in Western Sahara here.
Read more below to see our report and updates from the field team during their deployment from March-June 2022.
June 3, 2022, Democracy Now broadcasts headline video of Sultana Khaya's arrival in Canary Islands.
June 1, 2022, Tim Pluta, Ruth McDonough, Sultana Khaya successfully arrive in Canary Islands Airport to a huge crowd and media conference.
May 28, 2022, NVI and delegation protest against Moroccan deportation and abuses in front of the White House.
May 27, 2022, Amnesty International Report. Morocco/Western Sahara: Investigate targeted assault on Sahrawi women activists.
May 27, 2022 US delegation arrives in DC and protests their Moroccan mistreatment and US policy towards Western Sahara at the White House an Noon.
May 24, 2022 Siege of Khaya home re-intensifies with more agents surrounding the house. These past few weeks we have seen women visitors beaten by Moroccan forces with chains, their hands broken so they can't hold Saharawi flags' and youth visitors arrested and abused. Sultana's niece got beaten in front of Sultana's house trying to enter. Her husband escorted her away from this unsuccessful visit.
May 23, 2022, US Delegation of women, were forcibly put on the plane to Casablanca by unidentified Moroccan men. No legal rationale or basis was provided. One woman felt that her bra and shirt we deliberately lifted up.
May 23, 2022, US delegation of women are deported by Moroccan forces at Laayoune Airport. They are trying to visit their friends in Western Sahara, in particular the Khaya Sisters.
May 21, 2022, Tim and Ruth, release a dove at the front of the Khaya house, calling on the Moroccan forces to stop their siege, lay down their guns as Tim did many years ago and build a society based on consent and justice not on domination.
May 15/16, Large Truck Crashes into Khaya Home at Midnight. See NVI's Facebook page for a video shortly after the attack.
May 13, 2022, Ruth McDonough ends her fast and calls on people around the world to continue fasting for Western Sahara.
May 11, 2022, Ruth McDonough fasts for an eighth day.
May 10, 2022, Morocco sends an unsolicited ambulance to visit the Khaya home. The ambulance was filled with men pretending to be medical workers who had previously attacked and raped the Khaya Sisters. Sultana turned them away. See press release here.
May 9, 2022, Ruth McDonough enters day #6 of a hunger strike. Sultan Khaya holds another protest today calling for human rights and self-determination. Solidarity fasts held around the world including Edward Horgan in Ireland.
May 5, 2022, Visitor Ruth McDonough begins hunger strike to demand an end to the rapes, siege and for a international independent investigation of the abuses of the Khaya sisters.
Please join Ruth and fast for a day in solidarity with her and the need to end the siege!
April 21, 2022 Morocco attacks Sultana Khaya's nephew, Mohammed Fadel Khayamore,yet nonviolent rooftop protests continue. Mohammed is released after two days in an adult jail.
April 20th. Live Report! Breaking a Siege in Occupied Western Sahara:
Full Webinar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ-ThflMV4I
Shortened Version- 23 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_ZheGqLl1s
Moderator: Adrienne Kinne, past President and Vice President of the Board of Veterans for Peace USA and Field Volunteer, Presenters: Salka Barca, Co-Founder of Karama Sahara (Nonviolent US-based Advocacy Organization for Western Sahara); Ruth McDonough, Arabic teacher and Field Volunteer; Merwyn De Mello, international peacebuilder and Field Volunteer; Sultana Khaya, Renowned Western Sahara Human Rights Defender; Bill Fletcher Jr., Former President of TransAfrica Forum and Co-Chair of Campaign to End the Moroccan Occupation of Western Sahara.
April 19, 2022 Sultana Khaya installs flagpoles on the roof since the Moroccan government forces broke the hands of her friends who were holding the flag poles in previous days.
April 17, 2022, Brutalization of more activists in the neighborhood by Moroccan forces, yet daily protests on the roof continue.
April 16, 2022, 6 Women who joined the Khaya Sisters yesterday, were brutalized today at their homes. Moroccan forces tried to break their hands to punish them for holding Saharawi flags. Some are needing urgent medical attention.
April 15, 2022, Security has locked down the neighborhood for some reason unknown to all of us. Not a soul on the street, and the police chief is reported to be driving up and down the streets. Khaya Sisters and friends continue daily protests on the roof of their house. https://www.facebook.com/NonviolenceInternational
In the evening, Khaya family visited, despite barriers to the Khaya home, by prominent women's right and human rights activists, Boulsan Tufa and her sister.
April 12, 2022, Sultana Khaya assaulted by Moroccan settler outside her home. Moroccan settler threatened to kill everyone in the house which currently hosts two US tourists from the Human Rights Action Center.
April 6, 2022 Lilah Mohammed Habibi was released after being in police custody for 2 days where he was beaten. He has returned to his home. Protests continue daily on the roof. Moroccan forces surround the house but have not attacked.
March 31, 2022 On Thursday, March 17, Moroccan security forces abducted 14-year old Lilah Mohammed Habibi and his friend as they walked home after visiting nonviolent activist Sultana Khaya in Boujdour, Western Sahara. They forced the boys into their car and took them to the police station. Lilah was interrogated, yelled at, and violently struck on his arms and hands. He was ordered never to go to the Khaya house again. Later that day, both boys were released.
Lilah was then taken back into custody on Wednesday March 30th after being asked to pass a nearby bag to a group of older boys. Moroccan police refuse to release the 14-year old who is being held in an adult detention center.
A call for an international investigation of the Khaya Sister’s abuse in Western Sahara continues from the UCP Volunteers.
March 24, 2022 After a week of visiting with Saharawi activist, Sultana Khaya, two of the international guests have safely returned home with no incident going through borders. They are available for interviews about the horrific human rights violations in Western Sahara. The other two guests remain, continuing to deepen connection, friendship, and solidarity with the Saharawi people.
March 22, 2022 UCP Volunteer delegation calls again for an International Investigation of Khaya Sisters’s abuse in Western Sahara after women and elders are attacked and prevented access to Khaya Home.
March 21, 2022 Sahrawi women are being attacked outside the Khaya family home while international visitors observe human rights abuse. Visitors leaving the house were shoved, stopped, harassed, phones were taken, they are back in the house, others went on the street to protest.
Strong coverage on Democracy Now!
https://youtu.be/WKi3eKnU2Xc
https://youtu.be/cW6gpk0Tpoc
March 19th, 2022 Wife & Husband Reunite During Halt of Moroccan Siege in Western Sahara
WASHINGTON, D.C./Boujdour, Western Sahara – Human rights defender, Mina Abaali, reunited with her long-separated husband at the home of Sultana Khaya which was recently released from a 482-day siege by the arrival of 4 international visitors in Boujdour, Western Sahara. Abaali had been forcibly separated from her exiled husband, Hasanna Dueihi, by the Moroccan Forces for three years due to their nonviolent protests for self-determination. When he heard that the siege had been lifted, he rushed to be with her. He told Khaya’s guests, “I am so grateful for you four volunteers that gave me this gift of finally seeing my wife. You are the other face of America.” Young boys who overheard his comment started chanting, “USA! USA! USA!”
March 18, 2022 - The siege has been broken for three consecutive days now. Sultana Khaya and several other activists were able to meet together and support each other today. Our UCP Volunteers continue to ask that their demands are met:
We call for and end to the rapes.
We call for the freedom of movement for the Khaya Family and all visitors.
We call for an independent international investigation of these human rights abuses.
March 17, 2022 - The Moroccans have halted the siege of the Khaya Sisters for 2 days; good friends and family can reunite after nearly 500 days of separation in Western Sahara. We hope the Moroccan approach will continue to change and that sexual abuse, repression, and dominance will be replaced by humility, friendship and respect.
Saharawi Women and the International Visitors joined the Khaya sisters in their daily vigil on their rooftop. Ruth McDonough said, “Our presence as Americans helped to break the siege but these women are the ones who are leading and all that I hope for them is for their voices to be heard and followed because it’s what they say that everyone needs to hear.”
We are streaming live on FB. Please watch this moving feed, take action, and spread the word. Please see this one page document for specific demands directly from the Khaya family.
A UCP Volunteer with Sultana Khaya
UCP Volunteer and Sultana speak on the roof about Women’s Rights.
March 15, 2022 - At the invitation of the Khaya family in Boujdour, Western Sahara, US-based volunteers have arrived at their home to protect them from human rights abuses and break the almost 500-day siege of the house imposed by Moroccan occupation forces.
Supported by the Human Rights Action Center (HRAC) and NVI and a network of other human rights groups, the international unarmed civilian protection (UCP) volunteers, Ruth McDonough, Adrienne Kinne, and others, are currently guests in the Khaya family home. HRAC promotes adherence to the International Declaration of Human Rights.
Since November 2020, the Khaya Sisters have been forcibly confined to their home and the family has faced many forms of abuse, including home invasions, sexual violence and injections of unknown substances. The Khaya sisters have been raped by Moroccan security forces in front of their 84-year-old mother. Furthermore, their water has been poisoned, furniture and property destroyed, and electricity cut-off.
Referring to her experience, Sultana Khaya shared, “I am not the first Saharawi woman to be raped by the occupiers. I am simply the first woman to speak publicly about it. I have to expose the reality of the occupation. And I need to pave the way for the next generation of Saharawi women.”
UCP Volunteer in Western Sahara
Latest posts
Dear Friends,
From March 20 to 23, NVI Co-Directors, Michael Beer, Sami Awad, and board member Mohammed Abunimer, joined the Nuestra América Delegation to Cuba as part of a much larger international convoy of more than 600 people from around the world. We came as activists, artists, influencers, faith leaders, and community organizers, united by a simple conviction: the Cuban people should not be left alone under an embargo that continues to punish ordinary life.
The delegation was supported by CODEPINK, Progressive International, Global Health Partners, and Busboys and Poets, alongside a wider network that included The People’s Forum, Cuban Americans for Cuba, and Global Exchange.
It was our first time in Cuba! What we witnessed was not theoretical, was not news reports, was not propaganda.
Havana looks like a movie set from the 1950s! The cars and buildings are stunning -- but so run down. During our time there, Cuba continued to experience major electrical outages, part of a broader energy crisis that has left entire neighborhoods in darkness and placed immense strain on daily life. The blackouts are tied to the suffocating impact of the U.S. embargo, including restrictions on oil and essential resources.
In Cuba, this is not an abstract policy debate. It means hospitals under pressure, food and medicine at risk, transportation disrupted, garbage piled in streets, markets shut, restaurants closed, and families forced to survive with less and less.
And yet what we encountered was not defeatism. It was resilience. Generosity. Dignity.
People gathered in the dark. They shared what they had. They played music and sang in the streets. We played spirited mixed-gender ultimate with them (with donated frisbees that Michael brought). That spirit stays with us.
For those of us Palestinians, this was deeply personal. We met with and were inspired by Cuban students and others from around the world including Palestinians. We know what it means to live under systems designed to isolate, weaken, and break a people. We know what it feels like when your suffering is discussed from a distance while you are still living inside it. In Cuba, we recognized something painfully familiar: a people being made to pay the price for refusing to submit.
That is why this trip was not only a solidarity visit with medical relief and aid but also an act of nonviolent defiance.
This said, the convoy defied the embargo and carried real material support. Around 20 tons of aid were delivered, including food, medicine, solar panels, and bicycles. The delegation we were part of brought thousands of pounds of medical supplies and over a hundred suitcases and boxes of humanitarian aid, all going directly to hospitals and health workers facing severe shortages.
After we returned, the delegation faced attacks and accusations meant to discredit the trip and turn solidarity into suspicion. We reject that. People can debate politics from afar, but we know what we saw. The US has no problem engaging and trading with the communist parties of Vietnam, China, Nepal, and Laos. We saw a country under enormous pressure. We saw communities enduring blackouts and shortages. We saw doctors, families, churches, and neighbors doing their best to hold life together. And we saw hundreds of people from across the world choosing not to look away.
The embargo is not just policy, it is collective punishment.
What we carried back from Cuba was more than memory, it was clarity.
The Palestine and Cuba siege are connected, and so must be our response.
What can you do?
- Learn. Stay informed. Support organizations like the ones mentioned above.
- Refuse the narratives that justify collective punishment and oppose US unilateral sanctions on Palestine, Cuba and many other countries.
- Use your voice—in your communities, your platforms, your spaces.
- And find ways—big or small—to stand in real solidarity, including joining future delegations. Visit CUBA!
With Nonviolent Defiance,
Mohammed Abunimer, Michael Beer & Sami Awad
P.S. Please remember to attend our round table Field Testing Israeli Occupation Tech: The Palestine Lab on Sunday, April 19, 2026 3pm ET and see films in advance. This Round Table centers the human impact of this experimentation, examining how Palestinian lives are used as testing grounds for weapons, AI platforms, and policing tactics later exported worldwide. Join the Q&A discussion with: Omar Zahzah, Jeff Halper, Antony Loewenstein, Hassan El-Tayyab
You must register to join the discussion & receive access to the films
Stop Escalating the War on Iran Now
By World BEYOND War, March 22, 2026
Already the rule of law has been shattered, millions have been displaced, tens of thousands have been injured and traumatized, thousands have been killed, many billions of dollars of property has been destroyed, and many billions of dollars have been spent on this criminal enterprise — with much more lost through economic impacts and the failure to spend those resources usefully. Millions of tons of C02 has been emitted, and huge areas of land, water, and air poisoned. Urban areas and cultural treasures have been obliterated, and oil rained down on people and their homes. Many millions of people have been given deep reasons to resent and hate and seek revenge, and not a single person taught the value of nonviolent action or reconciliation. The obsessive fueling of the addiction to fossil fuels has been given precedence over everything, not just human rights, but even the dedication to cruelly violating human rights — with sanctions lifted to quickly obtain and burn more oil.
It gets worse. Trump is threatening to attack Iranian power plants. The Iranian government is threatening to attack oil infrastructure in the gulf dictatorships. The human and environmental costs could soar. The precedents of Gaza and Cuba could be repeated. Or it could be even worse. On January 3, Trump’s troops nearly destroyed a nuclear reactor and storage facility in Caracas. The U.S./Israel have already attacked the Bushehr nuclear power plant and the Natanz nuclear facility. Iran has already attacked Dimona, where Israel has a nuclear plant. The risk here is of catastrophic slaughter on a whole new scale. The joy Trump publicly takes when an individual he was annoyed by dies would be multiplied a million-fold. The capacity for rational thought, not just in Trump’s head, but in the so-called U.S. government that sits by and lets him play with the fate of the world, would be virtually eliminated. All blame for U.S./Israeli horrors would be placed on Iran, and escalation would follow escalation. The kingdoms that have sat by while U.S. bases were attacked in their countries will not sit by forever, and have very little capacity for creative nonviolent action, for any means of not sitting by other than escalating the war.
The madmen in the U.S. military who think the worse things get the sooner Jesus will appear can only be encouraged by the worsening of events. The madmen running the nation of Israel have very different fantasies, and those running Iran believe they have no choice and are justified in all things by the vicious attack on Iran. If a sensible solution is to be found, the decent people of the world who wish for life to continue will have to compel the governments of the world to reject militarism and hold accountable those engaged in it. The governments of Spain and Switzerland inching away from the war machine, the individuals transporting solar panels to Cuba, the flotilla being planned to Gaza — these movements will have to grow at a Pentagon-budget-like pace. Standing up for peace will have to soon become the typical path to power for those seeking to represent others, or there will be none of us left to represent.
NVI Directors, Sami Awad and Michael Beer, were part of an international convoy that brought solary panels and humanitarian aid to Cuba in March 2026. NVI is also supporting the flotilla planned for Gaza. Please read our now slightly outdated open letter to de-escalate the war on Iran elsewhere in our NVI blog.
Join Nonviolence International for a webinar on March 16, Monday, at 11:30am CT and 6:30pm Jerusalem time, entitled Solidarity in Action: Resisting Occupation in Palestine and Minnesota. This will be a conversation among Palestinian and Minnesota activists about nonviolent resistance to occupation and state violence. This webinar brings together organizers from two contexts where communities are confronting intensified state control, displacement and militarized enforcement: one new, in Minnesota, where federal immigration enforcement actions, characterized by a large deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents and have been resisted by community protests, grassroots defense and community building efforts have deeply impacted families and organizers, and veterans in the West Bank, where decades of military occupation shape everyday life and resistance, and have seen an increase of violence in the last months.
While there is no equivalency in duration or depth of violence and impunity, we have an opportunity to learn from people who have resisted occupation their entire lives and from those who may or may not have experienced it comparatively recently. Speakers will share their lived experiences, contrast strategies of resistance, shared learning and explore opportunities for solidarity and collective action. Through this exchange, we aim to center community agency, hope, and shared learning, and uplifting practices of resilience and organizing.
The webinar will be hosted by Mel Duncan, from Minnesota, co-founder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce and organizer of the Unarmed Civilian Protection in Palestine (UCPiP). And speakers include Amira Musallam, Head of Mission of UCPiP, Maddie Moon, Minnesota community organizer, and Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, Executive Director for UNIDOS MN.
Join us for this important conversation by registering here.
Goals:
- Share lessons learned from grassroots resistance in both contexts
- Build and invite compassion and mutual understanding
- Identify opportunities for solidarity and collaboration between movements fighting occupation, displacement, and state violence
Dear friends,
Nonviolence International warmly invites you to join us for two special evenings in Washington DC with Sami Awad, Palestinian activist, author, and NVI Co-Director.
For activists, Palestine has become a powerful lens for understanding injustice in the world. But today it reveals something deeper: the United States is not simply supporting Israel, it sits at the heart of a global system of empire. The same forces shaping domination abroad are also shaping power, repression, and inequality within the United States itself. This means the struggle is not just about changing policy. In these talks and based on his own journey, Sami invites us to expand our resistance, from a liberation struggle focused on one place to confronting the empire itself.
Event 1 - March 12, Thursday
From Occupation to Empire: Rethinking Resistance
All Souls Church Unitarian
Hosted by Souls 4 Palestine
6:30 – 8:30 PM (with Iftar observance)
1500 Harvard Street NW
RSVP here!
Event 2 - March 13, Friday
From Palestine to Empire: Reframing Resistance
Busboys & Poets
7:00 – 9:00 PM
450 K St NW, Mount Vernon Square
RSVP here!
These gatherings are an opportunity for community members, advocates, and anyone interested in nonviolent change to hear directly from a leading voice in Palestinian civil resistance and to explore pathways toward a more just and peaceful future.
We hope you can join us and help spread the word.
With appreciation,
Michael Beer, Co-Director
P.S. These are free events. If you want, please make a donation to Souls 4 Palestine and generously order food and drinks at Busboys and Poets to help them thrive.
Nonviolence International
https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/