King Mohammed VI of Morocco
Morocco’s Human Rights record in occupied Western Sahara has always been poor. But since the peaceful protest by ten of thousands of Saharawis (Western Sahara’s indigenous population) near El Aaiun in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara in October last year– the so-called Gdeim Izik protest camp that was the largest ever protest in the occupied territories – this record is becoming increasingly poor. On September 25 this year, Moroccan settlers and security forces again attacked peacefully protesting Saharawis, this time in Dakhla in occupied Western Sahara. Many were injured in these attacks, including women and children, and 28-year-old Saharwi activist Maichan Mohamed Lamin Lehbib was assassinated by Moroccan forces, according to the Saharawi liberation movement, Polisario. And last Monday, October 10, Moroccan forces brutally attacked peaceful protesters in El Aaiun in the occupied territories. According to the Polisario, approximately 30 Saharawis were injured and many others arrested.
In Gdeim Izik, as in the other demonstrations, the protesters were intent on showing their frustration with the lack of progress in the so-called Western Sahara conflict, the plundering of their resources by Morocco, and the arduous and discriminatory conditions they live under. They have endured 36 years of illegal colonisation, abuse and discrimination by Morocco, as well as nearly twenty years of waiting for a referendum on the status of Western Sahara that is demanded by international law and promised by UN. Moroccan forces clamped down heavily on the peaceful protest in Gdeim Izik, injuring many of the protesters, killing a 15-year-old Saharawi boy, Nayem Elgarhi, and imprisoning several of the participants. According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the Moroccan authorities allegedly torture many of the Saharawis whom they have detained, the most common methods, according to Amnesty International’s 2011 report being “beatings, electric shocks and threats of rape.” The detainees are also often forced to sign confessions and brought before military courts on more or less trumped up charges.
Abba Malainin, Polisario’s representative to Denmark, tells Africa Contact that he is “very worried that the Moroccan authorities maintains their torture against the protesters, that they will not be given a fair trial and that their health situation is deteriorating.” “There were twenty-three Saharawi human rights activists arrested after the crackdown against the protest camp, Gdeim Izik, last year. They are now in Sale prison near Rabat waiting to be presented to a military court,” Malainin says. “One of these, Cheikh Banga, has been doing a hunger strike since 15 September. His life is in danger. Another, Sidahmed Lemjiyed, President of the Saharawi Committee for Protection of Natural Resources, was detained on 25 December 2010 in El Aaiún. Since then, he has been imprisoned without being accused of a crime and without having been before a court. According to an international group that visited Morocco this week, his health is deteriorating.”
But as Morocco maintains a virtual media blackout in occupied Western Sahara and has banned NGO’s from operating there, independent information about the situation in occupied Western Sahara is hard to come by. “Morocco still banning the entrance to Western Sahara of the Media and Independent observers,” says Abba Malainin. “And Morocco has in the past few days banned an International human rights Delegation, the Spanish International Association for the Observation of Human Rights (AIODH), from visiting the imprisoned Saharawi human rights activists in Morocco. Also, Saharawis in occupied Western Sahara have no right to free expression or free association.”
By Peter Kenworthy, Africa Contact
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Now Let’s look at Spain and Gibralter. A big bone of contention between the 2 countries. To any observer, it’s obvious that Gibralter belongs Spain. No one disagrees, even the UK now agrees. HOWEVER, it can not be handed back to Spain without consultation with the Gibralteans. They overwhelmingly voted and decided to stay with the UK. The UK has no choice now but to keep Gibralter as a part of the UK.
So, give the Sahwaris the chance to vote. Don’t hide behind the Polisario as an excuse. maybe they do not want your so called KING ruling them as if he is their God. They don’t want to have his photo all over the streets. Maybe they just want God’s name, not his name.
to Nightrise:
Why have you used such a stupid and pathetic example. Do you know anything about the American Civil War. Why are you Moroccans so insenced on bending the truth to make yourselves look righteous. The war was over Slavery. Do you think they were wrong not to do what they did? wake up..BOY
The American Civil War (1861–1865), also referred to as the War Between the States or simply the Civil War, was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America (“the Confederacy”); the other 25 states supported the federal government (“the Union”). After four years of warfare, mostly within the Southern states, the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed everywhere in the nation. Issues that led to war were partially resolved in the Reconstruction Era that followed, though others remained unresolved.
In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against expanding slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. The Republicans strongly advocated nationalism, and in their 1860 platform they denounced threats of disunion as avowals of treason. After a Republican victory, but before the new administration took office on March 4, 1861, seven cotton states declared their secession and joined to form the Confederate States of America. Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and the incoming administration rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. The other eight slave states rejected calls for secession at this point. No country in the world recognized the Confederacy.
TO GENERAL TAMDI OF MOROCCO AND SON
I would like General Tamdi of Morocco to post on this forum and I would like the Saudi’s (who issued a fatwa to Chihab Tamdi authorizing the murder of female military official in Morocco based upon a false allegation that she was performing witchcraft on him), to please post up on this forum and dispute.
Algeria was created by the French so is Tunisia and MURITANIA belonged to Morocco was taken by the French,MOROCCO CREATED ITSELF! where was western sahara then??? where was the polisario! it never existed then!!!????? WHY SHALL IT EXIST NOW???????and it never will.
The Greater MOROCCO sadlly was becoming a French,SPANISH protectorate so they divided Morocco as they liked &Morocco is still suffering from these aftermaths to this day.
Spain as we all know colonized the north of the country and southern provinces(Sidi ifni&Sahara)
The French took the middle of the country(Morocco)&Mauritania in the further south.
How far do you want to go back in time. That’s what they said about Israel, that the Jews were expelled, so should they be given the land of Palestine now ? Do the Aborigines in Australia want all of Australia back? Do the Indians of America want the USA back? India was ruled by the British and Portugese. It was then divided into West and East Pakistan and India. Then East Pakistan wanted indepedance from West Pakistan. There were atrocities commited because of this by West Pakistan, to which they have now appologised for (what you are doing in the Sahara!). East Pakistan became Bangladesh, an INDEPEDENT COUNTRY. In Yugoslavia, should Bosnia not have been created? Should Croatia not have been created? Just because the Polisario were not created shows that it’s time that they were.
Time to wake up to the real world.
You know what is funny? When you read back your posts after two years, while in the meanwhile you have changed your opinion or improved your relationship with certain individuals. What a bummer!