SAHARA PRESS SERVICE

SPS
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES/HUMAN RIGHTS
A Saharawi detainee rejects Moroccan identity cards and claims for his right to self-determination
20.04.05




El Aaiun (occupied territories), 20/04/2005 (SPS) Saharawi detainee, M. Ahmed Mahmoud Haddi, alias El Kainnan, officially rejected the Moroccan identity papers, on Monday from his cell in the Black Prison in occupied city of El Aaiun. He declared his attachment to the inalienable right of Saharawi people to self-determination and independence.

In an open letter he addressed to the public opinion, the Saharawi prisoner declared that he "officially sent my Moroccan identity papers", as a sign "of the rejection to the illegal presence of the Moroccan State in the territory of Western Sahara".

"Parting from the fact that the UN's resolutions and decisions had always been rejected by the colonial State I decided to reject my Moroccan papers been a Saharawi citizen and recognising the Front for the Liberation of Sagia El Hamra and Rio de Oro, Polisario Front, as my unique representative", he said.

The young man formally asked "the authorities of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)", to "provide me with my identity cards and Saharawi passport".

Addressing the Moroccan Government, Mr. Haddi stressed however that he refuses to leave his territory and that he is decided to live in his country, "despite the Moroccan occupation, with my Saharawi papers". He also condemned the Moroccan refusal to subscribe to the international legality.

This new action of resistance from the Saharawi citizens under Moroccan occupation engendered large support from the Saharawi civil society in occupied territories of Western Sahara and south Morocco as well as in the Saharawi refugees’ camps in Algeria, it was indicated.

In this respect press releases of solidarity and support were issued Monday and Tuesday by the Saharawi Jurists Union (UJS), the Association of the Saharawi Families of Prisoners and Disappeared (AFAPREDESA) and the Union of Saharawi Journalists and Writers (UPES).

Mr. Haddi, it should be mentioned, was arrested for the first time in 2002, after confrontations between some Saharawi young people and the Moroccan police. The young man refused to accept Moroccan police superintendent, Alkoufili Hassan, violations against his rights. This attitude drove him to the Black Prison for 6 months.

In 2003, he was arrested once again for "insults against the person of the king", according to the Moroccan accusation. The first hearing court of Agadir sentenced him 3 years imprisonment. In the Court of Appeal the sentenced was increased to 7 years, it should be recalled. (SPS)

060/090/000 201234 AVR 05 SPS







SPS
SADR/HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
An international NGO calls to the protection of human rights activists in Western Sahara




Geneva, 20/04/2005 (SPS) International Youth and Student Movement for the United Nations (IYSM) called the international community on Monday, to "an immediate deployment of an international presence for the protection of Saharawi human rights activists and population civilians". The IYSM also exhorted it "take the needed steps to remedy to the renewed human rights abuses perpetrated by Morocco in Western Sahara".

In its intervention before of the 61 Session of the UN Commission for Human Rights held in Geneva from the 14 Mars to the 22 April, the movement indicated that "human rights violations have an instituted aspect" in occupied territories of Western Sahara and south Morocco.

"Morocco, the country that is illegally occupying Western Sahara from 1975, adopted a real policy of physical eradication aimed at eliminating all those who struggle for the self-determination of the Saharawi people", said the same source.

In this context the speaker said that the Moroccan Government proceeded "to the massive transfer of thousand of Moroccan colons into Western Sahara", and in the other side "deported hundreds of Saharawi to the Moroccan cities".

Saharawi people, who are suffering from the situation of occupation and injustice for 30 years, "has got the right to live like all the people of the world in security and peace, and must thus decide over their future in freedom and sovereignty. It should be underlined here that the International law and the bodies representing it has never recognised legitimacy or sovereignty to Morocco over Western Sahara". (SPS)

 020/090/000/TRD 201310 April 05 SPS




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SPS
SADR/VATICAN/WISHES
The President of the Republic congratulates the new Pope Benedict the XVI for his election






Bir Lehlu, 20/04/2005 (SPS) The President of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abbdelaziz, addressed a message on Wednesday to the new Pope, Benedict the XVI, congratulating him for his election on Tuesday on the head of the Catholic Church.

Here is SPS' English translation of the message originally written in Spanish.

His Holiness,
Pope Benedict the XVI,
 Vatican

Your Holiness,

I would like to express you, on behalf of Saharawi people and Government and in my personal name, my most sincere congratulation after your election new Pope, wishing you success in you new and noble mission.

Our people has got a very positive experience in its relations with the Holly See, which has always shown support and comprehension vis-à-vis the rights of all peoples to live in peace and dignity.

Unfortunately, His Holiness the late Pope Jan Paul II, left us before realising a so awaited for peace for Saharawi people. They are waiting, to this day, that the international community give them their legitimate and inalienable right to self-determination.

But, with the presence of your Holiness on the Head of the Church we are sure to maintain good relations of friendship and respect that link us, counting on your generous support to freedom, peace and justice in Western Sahara and in the whole world.
 
Being completely aware of the big responsibilities that your mission represents, we believe that God will help you in the achievement of these noble goals.

In front of the great and universal responsibility the Holy See bares, which we trust you are completely able to assume, we would like to ensure you the full collaboration of the Saharawi people and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

We pray together to the success of the hard struggle of your Holiness for the sake of a world without war, colonialism, terrorism, discrimination, diseases and poverty.

Please your Holiness receives my best regards.

Mohamed Abdelaziz,
President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic,
POLISARIO Front Secretary General." (SPS)

020/090/100 201620 AVR 05 SPS
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SPS
UN/WESTERN SAHARA/HUMAN RIGHTS
International NGOs denounce Moroccan human rights violations in Western Sahara




Geneva, 20/04/2005 (SPS) The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY ) and the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) jointly denounced on Monday Moroccan human rights violations perpetrated especially against Saharawi human rights activists in occupied territories of Western Sahara and south Morocco, indicated a close source to the two NGOs.

On behalf of the two NGOs, M. Oubi Bouchraya presented to the 61 session of the UN's Commission for Human Rights a summary of a letter the NGOs received "from a group of 37 activists of Human Rights from the occupied territories of Western Sahara", who reported on the dramatic situation lived by Saharawi population under Moroccan occupation and south Morocco.

"The Moroccan regime that continues, with impunity, to deny our very right to exist ", declared the group of activists in a letter presented by the two NGOs.

The text gives examples of some Saharawi victims of torture, deportation, judgment and harassment perpetrated by Morocco only because of because they openly expresses their attachment to their people's right to self-determination like the two "young men, Mahmoud Al-Mustafa Hadad and Mahmoud Al-Fak" for instance.

On another hand, the letter denounced the "frenzied campaign against the Saharawi human rights activist and trade unionist, Ali Salem Tamek ". Some Moroccan newspapers and magazines asked for the activist "to be punished psychically, to be banished and to be put in prison anew" for the simple reason that he clearly declares his support to the independence of Western Sahara; indicated the text.
 
The human rights activist and former disappeared, Mrs. Aminetu Haidar, is another example to the abuse of these activists human rights. The young mother "is being put under tight surveillance by Moroccan police service that keep on calling her and threatening to have her arrested, tortured and sacked from her work, in addition to confiscating her passport".

The text, which will be handed over to the participants during the works of the commission "gives concrete examples on human rights perpetrated by Moroccan authorities against the Saharawi population under occupation and in South Morocco", underlined the same source.

Held every year in Geneva to discuss human rights situation around the world, the UN Commission for Human Rights showed special concern to the situation of the Saharawi human rights activists in occupied territories of Western Sahara, it was indicated. (SPS)

060/090/000 201727 AVR 05 SPS




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