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SPS 20.07.05
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Casablanca, 20/07/2005 (SPS) Ssix
agents of Moroccan secret services
proceeded Wednesday in the early morning to the arrest of two Saharawi
human rights
activists, El Gaudi Mohamed Fadel and Mohamed El Moutawakil, in the
house of the latter in Casablanca, indicated a reliable source to SPS.
39 years old, ex political prisoner, released in 1992, married and
father to three children, Member of the Executive Bureau of the Forum
Truth and Justice, Mohamed El Moutawakil is now Secretary General of
the municipality of Beni M’Sik (Casablanca), to which he was deported
from Assa, his home city where he used to work.
El Gaudi Mohamed, who was in the company of his friend is an
ex-political prisoner who was released in 1979. He is member of the
same Forum, aged 47 years, married and father to three children. He was
director of a Moroccan Bank before he was illegally dismissed in 2000
because of his human rights’ activities.
These arrests intervene after the abduction, Sunday, of Ali Salem
Tamek, whose fate remains unknown and after the arrest of Mrs. Aminetou
Haidar, who is still imprisoned in the Carcel negra (Black Jail) in El
Aaiun without judgement.
Since the starting of the Intifada many persons were arrested, tortured
and released or judged in iniquitous trials to heavy sentences going
from 1 year to 20 years for having participated in peaceful
demonstrations, it should be recalled. (SPS)
010/090/100/ALG/TRD 201115 Jul 05 SPS
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Washington, D.C. 20/07/2005 (SPS)
The Chairman of the USA Western Sahara Foundation, Suzanne Scholte,
called on Morocco, Wednesday in a written statement, to "immediately
release" Saharawi human rights activist, Ali Salem Tamek, and all
Saharawi political prisoners and prisoners of war still in detention in
Moroccan secret cells.
"We join in solidarity with the international movement of human rights
organizations and activists in calling for the immediate release of Ali
Salem Tamek, and all Saharawi civilians and POWs held in Morocco's
infamous prisons", Mrs. Scholte declared.
The systematic practices of Morocco, who persists in " torturing and
jailing and harassing Saharawi men, women and even children and
continuing its brutal occupation of their land " must be stopped, and
needed pressures must be exerted on it so as the international legality
can be imposed in Western Sahara.
Moroccan colonial authorities have arrested the symbol of Saharawi
human rights’ defenders, Ali Salem Tamek, Monday at 16.00 (GMT) in El
Aaiun, it should be recalled.
Coming in regular flight from Spain, where he was having medical care
because of the multiple diseases he got in Moroccan prisons, the victim
was transported in a car of the criminal police to an unknown
destination.
Saharawi population organised demonstrations of protest, Tuesday
afternoon and evening, in the Saharawi cities of El Aaiun, Dakhla and
in Assa (south Morocco), claiming for the release of Saharawi human
rights activists, Ali Salem Tamek and Aminatou Haidar. Moroccan
colonial authorities, as usual, brutally responded hurting and
arresting dozens Saharawi citizens. (SPS)
060/090/ALG 201110 Jul 05 SPS
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El Aaiun (occupied territories),
20/07/2005 (SPS) Three more Saharawi
human rights activists were arrested by Moroccan colonial forces in El
Aaiun this Wednesday morning at about 10.00 (GMT), reported the
correspondent of SPS on the ground.
Brahim Noumria, El Houcein Lidri and Arbi Massoud, all of them
ex-political prisoners and members to many human rights organisations
and committees of defence of human rights.
Of their compatriots were already arrested. Ali Salem Tamek, abducted
Sunday in the plane that brought him from Las Palmas (Spain), El Gaudi
Mohamed Fadel et Mohamed El Moutawakil arrested in this early morning
of Wednesday in Casablanca and Aminetou Haidar abducted from the
hospital where she was having medical care for the wounds she had after
she was brutalised during a demonstration in El Aaiun last June the 17.
She is still detained in prison since then without trial, it should be
recalled. (SPS)
010/090/100/ALG/TRD 201220 Jul 05 SPS
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El Aaiun (occupied territories),
20/07/2005 (SPS) More than 5000 persons, according to Moroccan official
press agency, MAP, in their majority agents of the different Moroccan
services of security, employees, settlers and renegades demonstrated in
the high classes streets of El Aaiun wearing Saharawi traditional
clothes, with complete freedom and with a full medias coverage, to
divert the attention of the Moroccan suppression of the real Saharawi
population, reported SPS correspondent on the ground.
The subjects of his majesty were rising their master’s pictures, flags,
placards calling to the release of Moroccan prisoners of war held by
Polisario Front, and whose release was recently announced by the
President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, in an interview to French
newspaper, "Le Monde".
"The colonial authorities advance by a step forward in the
psychological suppression against Saharawis after the campaigns of
repression started since the beginnings of the Intifada of
independence", declared an official Saharawi source to SPS. The same
source underlined that "this masquerade intervenes also to divert the
attention from the raids of arrests against Saharawi human rights
activists, of who six are already detained in Moroccan cells".
The demographic nature of Western Sahara was completely transformed
since the Moroccan military invasion in 1975. The percentage of the
Moroccan settlers is actually estimated to 100 Moroccan settlers to 1
Saharawi, it was indicated. (SPS)
010/090/100/ALG/TRD 201301 Jul 05 SPS
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Brussels, 20/07/2005 (SPS) The
European Intergroup for the Western Sahara called, Wednesday from
European Parliament’s seat in Brussels, to the release of Saharawi
human rights activists, Ali Salem Tamek and Aminetou Haidar as well as
all Saharawi political prisoners held by Morocco.
In a written statement SPS received, the President of the intergroup,
Karin Scheele, recalled the precarious state of health of Ali Salem
Tamek, who has just come from Europe where he has medical care from the
diseases he had because of the years of detention in Moroccan jails.
She estimated that he was arrested by Moroccan colonial authorities
because he is " outstanding human rights activist in his country:
Western Sahara ".
"During his stay in Europe, Alisalem Tamek took part in some meetings
about human rights, where he clearly expressed his compromise with
pacifism, democracy and freedom, values which are, now more than ever,
absolutely necessary to our world", Mrs. Scheele added.
The euro-parliamentarian said that Moroccan policy of repression
against Saharawi population is simply "incomprehensible and
unacceptable, especially in a moment when the EU has given its green
light to the start of the negotiations for a new EU-Morocco fishing
agreement and, moreover, when the Polisario Front has announced the
release of all remaining Moroccan prisoners of war".
She demanded from the European Union and the international community
"to subject all political or commercial agreements with Morocco to the
respect by this country of human rights, freedom of expression and, in
general, to the requirements of a real legally constituted state".
She finally underlined that declaration is included in the recent call
signed by 178 Euro MPs for the liberation of Aminatou HAIDAR and all
Saharawi prisoners of conscience.. (SPS)
010/090/666/ALG/TRD 201449 Jul SPS
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London, 20/07/2005 (SPS) Western
Sahara Campaign, launched a campaign in the British Parliament, today,
exhorting Parliament members to sign a motion that calls on the British
Government to back the Baker Plan for self-determination of the people
of Western Sahara and put pressures on Morocco stop its systematic
violations of human rights in the occupied territories.
In an appeal to the British electorate the campaign asks all UK
citizens exhort their representatives in Parliament "sign the motion",
which was put forward on the 06.07.2005. The initiative is "an act of
solidarity toward all Saharawi who are subject to unspeakable
conditions, unjustly forced upon them by the Moroccan State”, the press
release wrote.
The motion, "already signed by a large number" of parliamentarians
"notes with concern recent reports of demonstrations and arrests in the
occupied territory of the Western Sahara (…) and further calls on the
Government to act to implement the [Baker] plan and not to allow
Morocco to evade its obligations under international law”, the press
release added.
The Coordinator of the organisation, Tom Marchbanks, estimated that
"the horrendous climate of kidnapping, unlawful arrests and police
brutality in occupied Western Sahara must stop", and so as to achieve
this the British public opinion and civil society must take part to the
action so as to avoid the worst for the region. (SPS)
060/090/ALG 202352 Jul 05 SPS
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El Aaiun (occupied territories), 20/07/2005 (SPS) The winner of the
Norwegian RAFTO Human Rights Prise 2002, Sidi Mohamed Daddech, called
for the release of Ali Salem Tamek and Aminetou Haidar and all the
Saharawi prisoners of conscience imprisoned after the Intifada of
independence that started last May.
In a press release publicised Wednesday, of which SPS received a copy,
Mr. Daddech denounced "the barbarous repression by Moroccan colonial
authorities against Saharawi civilians who demonstrated peacefully to
claim for their legitimate right to freedom, dignity and independence".
The Rafto Price winner also called for the "judgement of the persons
accountable for the violations of human rights in Western Sahara" and
to the opening "of the territory to journalists, observers and foreign
NGOs". (SPS)
010/090/110 202114 Jul 05 SPS
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Montreal (Canada), 20/07/2005
(SPS) Saharawi community in Canada exhorted the UN, Wednesday, to the
"immediate organisation of a referendum, which remains the democratic
solution to the resolution of the conflict", expressing its
condemnation to the systematic repression perpetuated by Moroccan
colonial authorities against the Saharawi population and calling for
the release of Saharawi political prisoners.
The Saharawi students and community in Canada exhorted UN Wednesday to
" the "immediate organisation of a referendum, which remains the
democratic solution to the resolution of the conflict", calling it to
include in the mandate of its mission in Western Sahara the defence of
Saharawi civilians, who are suffering Moroccan repression and
violations of their right every day.
On another hand, the text called on the international community to
exert the needed pressures to compel Morocco release Saharawi political
prisoners, especially Mrs. Aminatou Haidar and Mr. Ali Salem Tamek, who
became two emblematic figures of the Saharawi resistance in the
occupied territories of Western Sahara and in other places of the world.
Addressing "Moroccan free and honest militants", the press release
hailed the position recently expressed by the Moroccan left party,
Annahj Addimocrati, who openly supported Saharawi people’s right to
self-determination, as the only "democratic solution" to resolve the
conflict. (SPS)
060/090/ALG 202359 Jul 05 SPS
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Algiers 20/07/2005
(SPS) The Saharawi Ambassador in Algiers, Mohamed Yeslem
Beissat, Wednesday at the Saharawi Embassy, called on the UN and on its
“Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara” MINURSO, “to get out of
its silence” and assumes its responsibilities in the decolonisation of
Western Sahara and to intervene to put an end to “the injustice and
oppression” endured by the Saharawi people since the Moroccan military
invasion of their country, reported the SPS correspondent in the city.
During a press conference, which he gave Wednesday morning following
the escalation of the Moroccan repression against the Saharawi people
in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, Mohamed Yeslem Beissat
demanded that the UN should assume its responsibilities in the face of
“injustice and oppression” endured by the Saharawi defenseless citizens
under the Moroccan colonial yoke.
The UN and its mission MINURSO should “get out of their silence,
contrary to the principles and ideals of the Charter of the United
Nations” and heed “the urgent call” addressed Tuesday by the Saharawi
President, Mohamed Abdelaziz, to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Anna,
to ensure “conditions conducive” to the decolonisation of Western
Sahara and to intervene to ensure the release of all Saharawi detainees
and the protection of the Saharawi people against the Moroccan violence
in the occupied territories.
The Saharawi diplomat warned the international community against the
risk of “a genocide” in the occupied territories in view of the
escalation by the Moroccan authorities of their systematic repression
against the Saharawi people in spite of the peaceful character of all
the demonstrations so far, which were repressed brutally.
Asked about the recent statements made by the Spanish Foreign Minister,
Miguel Ángel Moratinos, who declared that his country adopts a
principled position similar to that of Algeria, the Saharawi Ambassador
called on Spain to assume its historical debt to the Saharawi people
“and undertakes major efforts to resolve the Saharawi question in its
capacity as administrating power” of the territory, according to the UN.
On the other hand, Mohamed Yeslem Bessat, considered that the
appointment of a personal representative of the UN Secretary-General,
Kofi Annan, for Western Sahara should be in favor of supporting the
Saharawi just cause and allowing this people to exercise their right to
self-determination (SPS)
060/090/ALG 202211 Jul 05 SPS
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Algiers,
20/07/2005 (SPS) The Saharawi Ambassador in Algiers, Mohamed
Yeslem Beissat, affirmed Wednesday that Morocco has no other
alternative but to respect the international legality by accepting the
holding of “a free and urgent referendum for the decolonisation” of
Western Sahara or exterminate the Saharawi people by pursuing its
policy of systematic repression in the Saharawi occupied territories.
During a press conference, which he gave Wednesday morning following
the escalation of the Moroccan repression against the Saharawi people
in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, Mohamed Yeslem Beissat
considered that “Morocco has to choose between two options, either the
holding of a free, just and urgent referendum in accordance with
international legality or the extermination of the entire Saharawi
people through a genocide”.
The SADR’s Ambassador stressed that “these last days witnessed an
unprecedented escalation on the part of the Moroccan security forces
that proceeded Tuesday to arrest the human rights activist Ali
Salem
Tamek” and other five Saharawi human rights activists, namely El
Mutazakil, El Gaudi Mohamed Fadel, Numria Brahim, Massud El Arbi y
Lidri El Hussein.
The Saharawi diplomat indicated that “following the detention of these
symbols of Intifada, the situation in the region has worsened once
again, leading the Saharawi people to organize massive demonstrations
in El Aaiún, Assa and Dakha”, which were also repressed brutally
by the
Moroccan colonial authorities (SPS)
060/090/ALG 202235 Jul. 05 SPS
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SAHARA
PRESS SERVICE