Ny retssag for ”uretmæssigt dømte” saharawier

Retssagen mod 25 saharawier fra Vestsahara i 2013 var, ifølge Amnesty International, et ”justitsmord” begåede af den marokkanske kolonimagt, ”der var baseret på tvivlsomt bevismateriale og skæmmet af påstået tortur”. Nu får de en ny retssag.

Ifølge Amnesty Internationals vicedirektør for Mellemøsten og Nordafrika, Magdalena Mughrabi, giver en ny retssag ved en civil domstol i stedet for en militær domstol de 21 af saharawierne der blev ”uretmæssigt dømt” og fik lange fængselsstraffe, ”et lille håb om at retfærdigheden vil ske fyldest i sagen”.

Amnesty kræver fanger i Afrikas sidste koloni løsladt

Amnesty International og tre andre menneskerettighedsorganisationer kræver 21 fanger fra det besatte Vestsahara løsladt. Fangerne blev idømt lange fængselsstraffe ved en marokkansk militærdomstol i 2013, selvom de efter eget udsagn er uskyldige og er blevet udsat for tortur.

Life sentence of ill-treatment for fighting Africa’s last colonial power

A life-sentence in prison, torture and a lack of medical treatment is the price Sidahmed Lemjayed and 22 of his fellow Saharawis have had to pay for fighting for independence and against the exploitation of resources in their homeland, Western Sahara.

“Saharawi political prisoners are daily exposed to systematic torture and ill-treatment, harassment, medical neglect and other abusive treatment”, the Committee for Supporting the UN Settlement Plan and the Protection of Natural Resources in Western Sahara (CSPRON) said in a statement last week.

Release political prisoners in Africa’s last colony

Africa Contact today launches the ACT NOW to free Sidahmed Lemjayed Campaign together with our partner organisations. Sidahmed Lemjayed is the President of the Commitee for the Protection of Natural Resources (CSPRON) in occupied Moroccan-Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony.

Sidahmed Lemjayed was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Moroccan military court (he is a civilian) on February 16 2013. The charges against him were membership of a criminal gang and deadly violence against members of the Moroccan security forces during the raid of the Gdeim Izik protest camp outside El Aaiun in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.

But Africa Contact see him as a political prisoner who is being punished for his work to protect the natural resources of Western Sahara against widespread, illegal Moroccan plunder and the widespread exhausting of Western Sahara’s natural resources.

Amnesty report condemns “excessive force” in Western Sahara

“The [Moroccan] authorities continued to target Sahrawi human rights defenders and advocates of self-determination for Western Sahara, and used excessive force to quell or prevent demonstrations in Western Sahara,” Amnesty International say in their 2013 Annual Report that was published today [23. May].

Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa. The territory has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975. No country accepts Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara, but over 80 countries have recognised Western Sahara’s exile government, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which is a member of the African Union.

Africa Contact condemns Morocco’s punishment of human rights activists

Press release: Africa Contact strongly condemns the harsh and unjust sentences given February 17th,  by a Moroccan military court to 24 Saharawis – Western
Sahara’s indigenous population, just for demanding the right to live in their own country without Moroccan occupation and discrimination.

One of the accused, Chaikh Banga, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison, said during the trial: “If my love for my country is considered an offense let the world witness that I am a gangster.”

Retssagen imod menneskerettighedsaktivister fra Vestsahara ”ulovlig” og ”uretfærdig”

”Retssagen er ulovlig og uretfærdig, eftersom den vedrører aktivister der bor i det af Marokko besatte Vestsahara”, udtalte det spanske medlem af Europarlamentet, Willy Meyer, i går ifølge Algeria Press Service.

Willy Meyer er, som en af flere Europarlamentarikere, international observatør i den militære domstol imod de 23 menneskerettighedsaktivister fra Vestsahara. Han opfordrede desuden Marokko til at løslade de 23 anklagede, samt at Marokko uden tøven gennemførte den folkeafstemning om Vestsaharas tilhørsforhold som FN har krævet i årtier.