National Day of Sahrawi detainees

 

Press release

The Association of Families of Prisoners and Disappeared Saharawis (AFAPREDESA) celebrates today November 8, the national day of Sahrawi detainees that coincides with the 11th anniversary of the violent dismantling of the Gdeim Izic dignity camp by the Moroccan occupation forces. AFAPREDESA recalls that since the beginning of the Moroccan invasion, on October 31, 1975, more than 30,000 Sahrawis, including babies, pregnant women and the elderly, have suffered arbitrary detention. Another 4,500 people have been victims of enforced disappearance. All of these people have been systematically subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Acts that are part of the extermination and genocide plan of the Saharawi people, a legal truth recognized by the Spanish Court in its order 1/2015 and by numerous United Nations mandate holders, very particularly the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and the UN Committee against Torture.

Currently 59 Sahrawi detainees are held behind bars for a long time and distributed among eight prisons, 7 of them in Moroccan territory, in violation of International Humanitarian Law that explicitly prohibits transfer prisoners outside the occupied territory. All have suffered from torture and continue to be subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Due to the serious conditions, they suffer from chronic diseases without being able to benefit from the required health care. They do not receive visits from their relatives and telephone communications are often prohibited. A situation that has worsened considerably since the resumption of hostilities as a result of the violation of the ceasefire by the occupation forces against peaceful protesters in Guerguerat, on November 13, 2022.

The Association of Families of Prisoners and Disappeared Saharawis (AFAPREDESA) expresses its deep concern about the serious situation of Sahrawi political prisoners and demands their immediate and unconditional release.

AFAPREDESA launches an urgent appeal to the Spanish State to assume its responsibilities as Administering Power by protecting the Saharawi population under Moroccan occupation, in accordance with the United Nations Charter.

AFAPREDESA requests the United Nations to extend, without delay, the mandate of MINURSO to protect and monitor human rights, a pillar of its peace missions in the world.

AFAPREDESA also requests the urgent intervention of the African Union to put an end to the grave and flagrant violations of the Kingdom of Morocco to the Constituent Act of AU and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Saharawi refugee camps, November 8, 2021