Ali Salem Tamek’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Intro Moroccan activist
Is Activist
Human rights activist
Trade unionist
From Morocco
Type

Activism

Gender male
Birth

24 December 1973, Morocco

Age 47 years

Ali Salem Tamek (Arabic: علي سالم التامك‎‎; born December 24, 1973, in Assa, Morocco) is a Sahrawi independence activist, human rights defender and trade unionist.
Ali Salem Tamek was born in Assa, southern Morocco. He has emerged as one of the most outspoken Sahrawi dissidents under Moroccan rule. He is vice president of the Collective Of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA). He was active in Moroccan trade unions and leftist Moroccan spheres.

Biography

He has been jailed five times for nationalist activities, fired from his job, and for a long period of time had his passport confiscated. On September 13, 1993, he was detained for the first time, along with other Sahrawis, on the Moroccan-Algerian border in the region of Tata, where he was attempting to join the POLISARIO. He was condemned to one year in prison and a fine of 10,000 dirhams. On November 24, 1997 he was detained again in the Dakhla region, trying to cross the Moroccan-Mauritanian border. Since 1997, he worked as a local administration functionary in Tuesgui (Assa-Zag region), but in April 2002 he was forcibly moved to Meknes, 1,300 km. away from his home. In late 2002, he was sentenced to 2 years of prison and a fine of 10,000 dirhams after being detained on August 26 in Rabat for “undermining the internal security of the state“, as head of the Sahrawi branch of the human rights organization Forum for Truth and Justice. This led to him being referred to by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. Morocco accuses him of being an agent for the Polisario Front, which he denies, as he admits he supports the goal of the liberation movement, of holding a United Nations backed referendum on independence. Tamek wishes Western Sahara to become an independent state under the auspices of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, the government-in-exile created by the Polisario Front, based in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria.

During his incarceration, he has been on numerous hunger strikes, and in 2003 came close to death before being released in a general royal pardon on January 7, 2004, on orders from the “Equity and Reconciliation Commission”. Due to the precarious conditions of detention in Moroccan jails, his health had worsened (he suffers from asthma, rheumatism, skin allergies, and other ailments).

He has been the target of smear campaigns in the Moroccan press, and complains of politically motivated harassment and threats to his life and family. His wife, Aicha Ramdan, reported in 2005 that in 2003 she had been raped by five policemen in front of her 3-year-old daughter, while visiting her husband in Agadir prison. She declared that one of them was Brahim Tamek, cousin of her husband, and other Mbarek Arsalane, both members of the Direction Générale de la Sûreté Nationale (Moroccan police). She had asked for political asylum in Spain. The Moroccan authorities had refused to recognize the name the family has given to their first daughter, Thawra. The name means “revolution” in Arabic. For that reason, the family was illegally deprived of the family allowance that the Moroccan law gives.

On July 18, 2005 he was detained in El Aaiun airport while returning from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, after touring Switzerland, Italy and Spain on conferences supporting the independence of Western Sahara. The magazine Maroc Hebdo International put him in its July 2005 cover with the heading “Public Enemy Nº 1”. The European parliament called for his “immediate release” in a resolution on October 27. On December 14, Ali Salem Tamek was sentenced to 8 months in prison by a Moroccan court in El-Aaiún, being accusated of incitement to trouble the public order during the Independence Intifada. Both before and after the trial, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued reports [1][2] with concerns that Ali Salem Tamek and other Sahrawi activists were not getting fair trials, and may be prisoners of conscience. He was released again by a general royal pardon in April 2006.

Tamek completed final secondary-school examinations in 2007 in Morocco, but wasn’t allowed by the Moroccan authorities to study law and journalism.

On October 8, 2009, he was arrested with six other Sahrawi human rights activists (known as “The Casablanca 7”) at Casablanca Airport, after returning from visiting family members at the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. The judge accused them of “threatening state security“, and sent the case to a military court. They were declared prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International.

Tamek, Brahim Dahhane, and Ahmed Nasiri were freed on 23 April 2011, shortly before they were set to begin a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their imprisonment.

Awards and nominations

On June 10, 2005 he was awarded with the III “Juan Antonio González Caraballo” Solidarity Prize, in a ceremony in Seville (Spain).

On March 14, 2010 he was awarded with the I “Jose Manuel Méndez” human rights and social justice prize, given by the citizens platform “Asamblea por Tenerife”.

  • Call of Thawra (Letter to Ali Salem Tamek from his daughter)
  • Photo of Tamek on his 2004 prison release, in his hometown of Assa
You May Also Like

Hugo Weaving’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Hugo Weaving Net Worth and Salary: Hugo Weaving is a British actor who has a net worth of $25 million. Although Weaving is British, he has strong Australian roots and grew up in the “down under” after his family settled there in the 70s. Hugo is famous for a wide range of memorable roles and has starred in some of the biggest franchises of all time. These include the Matrix trilogy, the Lord of the Rings films, the Hobbit films, Marvel movies, and many others. After getting started with Australian television series in the 80s, Weaving began to appear in a range of films throughout the 90s. During his career, Hugo has won a number of awards. These include a Satellite Award, an MTV Movie Award, and six Australian Film Institute Awards. Today, he is one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood. Early Life: Hugo Wallace Weaving was born on April 4th of 1960 in Ibadan, Nigeria. Born to British academics, Hugo relocated to the United Kingdom when he was one. During this period, he lived in Bedford and Brighton before moving once again to Australia. After living in Melbourne and Sydney for a stretch, Hugo moved to Johannesburg in South Africa before returning to England once more. While attending school in England, Weaving got involved with acting for the first time with a stage production. Weaving’s family moved back to Australia in 1976, and this time they settled long enough for Hugo to lay down roots. He attended grammar school in Sydney before enrolling at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). After graduating in 1981, Hugo began to pursue a career as a professional actor. Career: Weaving’s first major role came in 1984 when he joined the cast of the TV series “Bodyline.” Further roles came with Australian series such as “The Dirtwater Dynasty” and films like “Barlow and Chambers: A Long Way From Home.” By the end of the 80s, he was starring opposite Nicole Kidman in the film “Bangkok Hilton” and winning his first Australian Film Institute Award for the low-budget flick “Proof.” At the beginning of the 90s, Weaving showed his range with roles in comedic films like “Reckless Kelly” and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” One of Weaving’s first big moments on the international stage came in 1995 with the film “Babe.” Hugo provided the voice for Rex the sheepdog, and in 1998 he reprised his role in the sequel “Babe: Pig in the City.” He then earned critical praise for his performance in the film “The Interview.” In 1999, Weaving became known to the world as “Agent Smith” after playing the iconic role in the cult classic sci-fi film “The Matrix.” He reprised this role in the film’s two sequels; “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions.” After gaining another voice acting role in the animated film “The Magic Pudding,” Weaving landed another iconic role as Lord Elrond in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. During the next period, Weaving appeared in films like “Everything Goes,” “Little Fish,” and “V for Vendetta.” More voice acting roles followed in the video game “The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II,” and in the 2007 film “Transformers.” A supporting role followed in 2010 with “The Wolfman” before Weaving followed up with “Last Ride.” In 2011, it was confirmed that Weaving would reprise his role as Elrond in “The Hobbit” movies. Weaving spent time doing theatre work in Australia with productions like “God of Carnage” and “Uncle Vanya.” He also appeared in the Australian TV show “Rake” during this period. Weaving returned to blockbuster stardom in 2010 after winning the role of Red Skull in “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Weaving appeared in “Cloud Atlas” in 2012 and subsequently returned to theatre work. He also focused mostly on Australian films for most of the 2010s, and in 2018 Weaving appeared in the film “Mortal Engines.” Red Skull Salary Negotiations: In 2020, Hugo revealed that he did not return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Red Skull because of a breakdown in salary negotiations. According to Weaving, Marvel wanted him to reprise his role in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” but they were offering him less than what he originally made in “Captain America: The First Avenger.” And just to make it clear, the contract they were offering was for two films – not one. This was a strange turn of events, mainly because actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are typically offered higher salaries with subsequent reprisals of their original roles. It seems dumbfounding that Marvel would stoop so low and offer an established actor like Hugo Weaving such an insulting contract. Fortunately for Weaving, he actually didn’t even want to play Red Skull again, and he expressed as much in an interview back in 2011. Relationships: Since 1984, Hugo Weaving has been in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Katrina Greenwood. Over the course of their relationship, the pair have had two children together. Health Concerns: Hugo Weaving has epilepsy, a condition that he was made aware of during his early teens. Although he completely stopped having seizures after the age of 18, Hugo chooses not to drive for safety reasons. Other Ventures: Outside of acting, Weaving is strongly passionate about animal rights in Australia. He serves as an ambassador for an animal protection organization called Voiceless. Highest Grossing Box Office Actors: Having appeared in several of the biggest movie franchises of all time Hugo Weaving’s career has generated enormous box office returns. As of this writing his box cumulative box office total is $8.7 billion. That’s enough to make him one of the 30 highest-grossing actors of all time in terms of box office totals.
Read More