London, 1 May 2025 (SPS) - The UK solidarity organization with the Sahrawi people, Western Sahara Campaign UK, Sandblast UK, Olive Branch Arts, Adala UK and Western Sahara Support Group, has issued a statement expressing their support for the Freedom March calling for justice for Saharawi prisoners in Moroccan jails, urging the international community to act for the release of all Saharawi prisoners unjustly kept in Moroccan prisons, and respect for their human rights.
This is the full text of the statement:
“Justice for Saharawi prisoners, end the detentions
Many of us throughout the world take for granted and enjoy basic human rights. We are able to protest, have access to a just judicial system andare kept free from the evil of torture. This is sadly not true for many Saharawi prisoners illegally detained by the Moroccan state and starved of the most basic human rights. This sadly is not truer than for the experience of the Gdeim Izik prisoners.
In October 2010 a group of Saharawi activists setup Gdeim Izik protest camp, just 12 km south east of El Aaiun (Laayoune), Morocco's administrative capital in the occupied Western Sahara. The numbers of protesters quickly grew from a few hundred to a few thousand in the first few weeks.
Naom Chomsky often claimed the Arab Spring did not begin in Tunisia but began in Gdeim Izik.The number of protesters quickly grew to 5,000 strong with many calling for human rights protections and even for an independent Western Sahara. On the 8th November,1 month after its construction, the Moroccan army and police stormed the camp and dismantled it.3,000 Saharawi were arrested, 36 Saharawi were murdered by Moroccan forces and a further 1,200 were injured. 19 of these prisoners still remain in Moroccan prisons.
These convictions were only conceived through “confessions” which were at the result of barbaric uses of torture inflicted upon the Saharawi prisoners by the Moroccan state and police. This must end. These prisoners are starved of the most basic rights, they have little to no access to medical care, the judicial system or visitations and are often subject to evil forms of torture. These claims are backed up time and time again by human rights organisations throughout the globe. Claims Morocco denies, yet still does not allow human rights observers into occupied Western Sahara or to visit the prisoners, if they have nothing to hide then why would this be the case.
We the above organisations call on the international community to call for the release of all Saharawi prisoners unjustly kept in Moroccan prisons, their human rights must be respected, this is not a privilege this is a right they are being denied.
Right now a solidarity march is walking in Spain having started in France, calling for justice for Saharawi prisoners, their protest and demand must be listened to and must be followed.
Freedom for the Gdeim Izik protestors and other victims of the brutality of the so called Moroccan justice system, state torture is still torture.
In solidarity,
Western Sahara Campaign UK, Sandblast UK, Olive Branch Arts, Adala UK and Western Sahara Support Group”.
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