HRW and RFK Center call on UN to ensure monitoring and reporting of human rights in Western Sahara
13/04/2010
In a joint letter sent last April 8 to the Secretary General, Human Rights Watch and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights (RFK Center), called on the UN to ensure monitoring and reporting of human rights in Western Sahara.
http://www.upes.org/body1_eng.asp?field=sosio_eng&id=1836

12/04/2010 Malainin Lakhal: Ban Kimoon’s report is a blatant disregard of the dangerous human rights situation in Western Sahara

In reaction to the UN Secretary General’s latest report on Western Sahara, the Secretary General of the Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union, Malainin Lakhal, estimated that the report was “a blatant disregard of the dangerous human rights situation in Western Sahara,
http://www.upes.org/body1_eng.asp?field=sosio_eng&id=1833

10 April 2010
A letter from Australia Western Sahara Association has been sent to the President of the UN Security Council. The letter states that the United Nations Security Council will be voting on 29 April on the mandate of its mission to Western Sahara, MINURSO. The Secretary General and his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, have prepared a report with recommendations.  Despite its absence in the published report, the Australia Western Sahara Association hopes that the Council will vote to include human rights monitoring within the mandate of MINURSO.
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Read AWSA’s letter >>

Moroccans attack 11 Saharawi human rights activists in El Aaiun  upon their return from a visit to the Saharawi refugee camps

Hundreds Moroccan settlers, backed by police attacked 11 Saharawi human rights activists upon their landing at the airport of the occupied capital of Western Sahara, El Aaiun, maltreating them and stripping them naked under the orders of the Moroccan police to beat them up.
 
The victims are: Mr. Sidi Mohamed Daddach (24 years imprisonment), Mrs. Sukeina Jad Ahlu (12 years in Moroccan secret detention camp), Mrs. Najat Khneibili (10 years in Moroccan secret detention camp), Ms. Sultana Khaya, Ms. Aajina Bouhan, Ms. Fakka Abdadi, Mr. Hamada Ismaili, Mr. Hasanna El Wali, Mr. El Mahjoub Aoulad Cheikh, Mrs. Ameilmnin Sueyah, Ms. Fadah Aghla Manhum.
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Briefing Concerning: the situation of the Saharawi Human Rights Defenders / prisoners of conscience who are on hunger strike in the local prison of Salé (Morocco)
Day 15 of the unlimited hunger strike
Salé/Morocco
01/04/2010
The hunger strike started by the political prisoners on the 18th of March 2010, is now in its 15th day. This has gravely impacted their medical situation, which was poor to begin with, and provides serious reason for concern. They’re now entering in a dangerous phase, which will affect their health even more and could possibly threaten their physical well being and their lives.
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Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA)

01 April 2010 – Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) PRESS RELEASE: SAHRAWI POLITICAL PRISONERS ON UNLIMITED HUNGER STRIKE FOR THEIR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Five Sahrawi human rights defenders, Ali Salem Tamek, Brahim Dahane, Yehdih Ettarrouzi, Ahmed Naciri and Rachid Sghayer, currently jailed for their opinions in Salé prison (Morocco) are in their 15th day of hunger strike. They’re calling for respect of their basic rights as political prisoners, i.e. medical assistance, open visits, correspondence and an investigation to the abuse they were subjected to while in prison on 15 December 2009.
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Washington D.C.(March 25)… Human rights activists from the United States demonstrated at the Moroccan Embassy today to call for the release of the “Sahrawi Six”, six Sahrawi human rights defenders currently facing a Moroccan military court because they visited their family members in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria.
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On October 8, 2009, seven Saharawis were detained by Moroccan security forces at the Mohamed V airport in Casablanca upon returning from the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, where they were visiting family and friends. The seven were accused of high treason against Morocco. They are protesting against the extension of their period of detention without trial by a further 2 months. By then they will have been held   without charge for over 6 months. A Spanish law professor says this is   not acceptable in any legal system except Guantanamo.

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