Yearly Archives: 2013

Western Sahara’s National Day – Moreland flag idea fails to fly

Melbourne Weekly Times, March 4, 2013, 10:53 a.m.
By CHRIS HINGSTON

A PUSH to celebrate cultural diversity by flying other nations’ flags within the Moreland City Council has been stymied.

Last month the council staged a small celebration to mark Western Sahara’s national day, but did not fly the flag outside Coburg Town Hall.
The gesture was a compromise, after a motion put forward by Moreland councillor Lita Gillies to fly the Western Saharan flag raised objections.

Read article >>

MEPs call on Schulz to condemn colleagues expulsion from mission to Western Sahara

(ANSAmed) – STRASBOURG, MARCH 12 – The Western Sahara House Intergroup on Tuesday called on European Parliament President Martin Schulz to condemn Morocco’s March 6 expulsion of four MEPs.

Moroccan authorities expelled Slovenian liberal Ivo Vaigl, leftist Spaniards Vicent Ramon Garces and Willy Meyer, and Swedish People’s Party MEP Isabella Lovin from Casablanca airport, preventing their mission to the Western Sahara, where they were to meet with local representatives.

Read online report >>

Morocco’s Ambassador to the U.N. responds to a documentary about the country’s treatment of the Sahrawi people

CNN International Edition, March 6, 2013

Interview by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour

Moroccan Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mr. Mohammed Loulichki, responds to a documentary “Sons of the Clouds – The Last Colony”, presented by award-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem about the conflict over Western Sahara, the last remaining colony in Africa.

Video interview with Moroccan Permanent Representative to the UN, Mr. Mohammed Loulichki >>

“Sons of the clouds” screened in the Australian Federal Parliament House

Tuesday 12 March 2013, Parliament House, CanberraThe Australian Parliamentary Friends of Western Sahara organised an event in support of Western Sahara at the Federal Parliament on 12 March 2012.

The event included a special screening of “Sons of the Clouds – The Last Colony”, a documentary presented by award-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem about the conflict over Western Sahara, the last remaining colony in Africa.

Janelle Saffin Member of Parliament and Chair of the Australian Parliamentary Friends of Western Sahara opened the event with a speech in which she said:

“Tonight, in the name of Western Sahara, we welcome diplomats, parliamentarians and the press to our film viewing.

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Just published: Special Issue of Pambazuka Press focuses on Western Sahara

Pambazuka News, February 2013

Konstantina Isidora, editor of Pambazuka Press, has brought together a brilliant collection of perspectives on WS.

Read collection of articles in this issue >>

Her own article “Another Moroccan ‘coup de théâtre’” on the Gdeim Izik trial incisively brings together all aspects of the trial and the injustices meted out to the Saharawi prisoners.
Full text of article >>

Press Release: Morocco must investigate claims of torture, transfer Sahrawi cases out of military jurisdiction

(Washington, DC – Feb. 20, 2013) The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights is deeply disturbed by the mistreatment and the military trial of 25 Sahrawi in Morocco. The RFK Center calls for a full investigation into the alleged torture of the prisoners and calls into question Morocco’s use of military courts in trying civilians. (Cont….)

Press Release 20 Feb 2013 >>

Press Release: Santiago Canton Testifies before European Parliament on Western Sahara & Sahrawi Refugee Camps

Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights: Press Release

(Feb. 28, 2013 – Brussels) Today, Santiago A. Canton, Director of RFK Partners for Human Rights, testified before the European Parliament on the findings of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights (RFK Center) international human rights delegation to Western Sahara and the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. Kerry Kennedy, President of the RFK Center, led the delegation in August 2012, and Mr. Canton was invited to present the findings of the delegation by the Honorable Norbert Neuser and the Intergroup on Western Sahara.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Méndez, just published in Geneva

Human Rights Council, 28 Feb 2013

Full report >>
Among the recommendations, these ones apply particularly to WS:

97. With regard to Laâyoune, Western Sahara, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government:
(a) Investigate promptly all allegations of torture and ill-treatment during
and after demonstrations and at the Prison of Laâyoune; hold the perpetrators
accountable and provide compensation to the victims;

(b) Reconsider the jurisdiction of the military court over civilians in the case of the 23 Sahrawi men detained at Salé Prison 1 and assure that as a principle. civilians are not sentenced by military courts;
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Trial of 24 Akdeim Izik- Report from Equipo Mediático

20 Feb 2013 : Trial of 24 Akdeim Izik- Report from Equipo Mediático

The trial of the Saharawis kept in prison for political reasons after the attack against the «Akdeim Izik» protest camp by the Moroccan authorities on November 8, 2010, started on February 8, 2012 in Rabat before the Moroccan Military Court, after having been postponed twice. They have all denounced the charges against them and demonstrated that they were false and fabricated for this specific event.

Many testified that they had been regularly tortured and humiliated during interrogations to the point they feared to die there from.

The overall and the day-to-day course of the trial are reported herein, as well as some specific elements of each political prisoner’s intervention before the court.