Washington D.C ,Feb20,2013(SPS) the US Western Sahara Foundation , on Tuesday urged the United Nations Security Council to call upon Morocco to release 24 Saharawi political prisoners sentenced by Moroccan military court to verdicts between 20 years to life sentences.
“I urge the UN Security Council to call upon the King of Morocco to overturn these draconian sentences and release the Sahrawis” writes president of USWS Foundation Suzanne Scholte, to President of the Security Council Kim Sook.
“I am writing with an urgent request regarding the recent sentencing by a military court in the Kingdom of Morocco of twenty-four Sahrawi civilians. These Sahrawis have been held and repeatedly tortured for over two years because they had joined in a peaceful protest against their treatment as second class citizens in their homeland, Moroccan Occupied Western Sahara.”
“They are facing sentences ranging from several years to life imprisonment in a dubious and politically motivated trial that has already raised concerns from the international community including the UN Commissioner for Human Rights”
“It is an appalling situation that the United Nations must address because the UN bears responsibility for this latest tragic situation.”
The American Foundation urged the Security Council to “include human rights monitoring as part of the MINURSO peacekeeping mission to prevent these continuing atrocities,”
It finally, called the United Nations to “fulfill its promise to resolve this long standing conflict by going forward with the long promised referendum on self-determination.”(SPS)
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