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Salé (Morocco), Feb 22, 2012 (SPS) - The administration of the Moroccan prison of Salé has prevented on Wednesday, for the seventh time, the families of Saharawi political prisoners (Gdeim Izik group) from visiting their relatives, informed the coordination of  families of Gdeim Izik prisoners.

After this illegal ban, families of the Saharawi prisoners organized a peaceful a sit-in outside the prison, demanding the release of all Saharawi political prisoners and to allow them to visit their sons.

Bir Lehlou (Liberated Territories), February 22, 2012 (SPS) - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, has congratulated on Tuesday the Foreign Minister of Saint Lucia, Mr. Alva Baptiste on the occasion of the he 33rd Independence Anniversary of Saint Lucia.

"It gives me great pleasure to convey to you our greetings and felicitations on the occasion of 33rd Independence Anniversary of Saint Lucia",  Mr. Ould Salek wrote in a letter to his St. Lucian counterpart.

Bir Lehlou (Liberated Territories), February 22, 2012 (SPS)- The President of the Republic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz, has sent on Tuesday a congratulatory letter to the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Dr. Kenny Anthony, on the occasion of the he 33rd Independence Anniversary of Saint Lucia.

Below is the full text of the letter:

"The Honourable Dr Kenny Anthony

Prime Minister of Saint Lucia

Castries

Bir Lehlou, 21 February 2012

Dear Mr. Prime Minister

Rabat (Morocco), Feb 21, 2012 (SPS) - Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has denounced the systematic assaults carried out against the Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan prison of Sale.

In statement released Saturday, the association deplored these attacks which are incompatible to the international low, "against prisoners spent 15 months in jail without trial."

Layune (Saharawi Refugee Camps), Feb 21, 2012 (SPS) – a total of 100 students from the Spanish university of Castilla de la Mancha have begun, more than a week ago, solidarity visit to the Saharawi refugee camp of Layune where they are providing educational and cultural activities in favor of the Saharawi pupils.

The student activities is a part of annual program organized by University of Castilla de la Mancha in coordination with Saharawi Ministry of Education.

Sale (Morocco), Feb 21, 2012 (SPS) - The Moroccan court of appeal in Sale has postponed on Monday, for the second time, the trial of the six Saharawi students to February 27, according to a statement of Collective of the Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA).

Student detainees denied the alleged charges made by the court, asserting their peaceful struggle.

The Saharawi students denounced their arbitrary arrest and miserable situation in which they live inside the jail.

Ballarat (Australia), Feb 21, 2012 (SPS) -The Trades Hall of the Australian city Ballarat raised SADR Flag high above Camp Street on Monday, expressing solidarity with the Sahrawi people, the Courier newspaper reported.

The Ballarat Trades and Labour Council used the symbol to show support for the Sahrawi people on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Trades Hall secretary Paul Clempson said their predicament over a UN negotiated vote of self-determination was similar to that faced by workers around the world.

Shaheed Al Hafed (refugee camps), Feb 20, 2012 (SPS) - “The topic of allocating parliamentary seats for the municipalities in the Saharawi liberated territories will be considered in the next elections,” the Rapporteur of the Parliament’s Preparatory Committee and Minister of Interior, Mr. Hamada Salma, told Monday SPS, highlighting that the election process “have been accomplished at the level of all regions of the People’s Liberations Army.”

Salé (Morocco), Feb 20, 2012 (SPS) - Health of the six Saharawi students, incarcerated in the Moroccan jail of Salé, has been deteriorated due to a hunger strike they have held since last Monday, according to a statement of their hunger-strike’s follow-up committee.

The statement warned of the deteriorated health of the prisoners, especially as most of them suffer from serious diseases.

Nouakchott, Feb 20, 2012 (SPS) - Mauritanian intellectuals and former ministers have assured that the Saharawi issue “still remains an obstacle in the way of building the Arab Maghreb Union (French acronym: UMA),” in a seminar organized Thursday in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on the occasion of the UMA establishment under the motto: “Arab Maghreb Union and the future prospects."

Algiers, February 19, 2012 (SPS) - Two American journalists, who have just returned from a visit to the Saharawi refugee camps, deplored Sunday in Algiers the extremely difficult conditions experienced by the Saharawis in these camps.

“The Saharawis live in extremely difficult conditions. Once back in the U.S., I will go through my articles to educate the American public on the Saharawi question in order to take measures in favor of this brave and hospitable people,” said the Journalist Edwin Mora, CNN correspondent in the U.S. Congress.

Brussels, Feb 19, 2012 (SPS) - The international Organization Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) has published a report on “Conflict Tomatoes” with the support of Emmaus Stockholm, pointing to a “massive growth in the Moroccan agriculture industry in occupied Western Sahara and its trade to the EU.”

Salé (Morocco), Feb 19, 2012 (SPS) - Administration of the Moroccan Sale’s jail prevented Saturday families of the Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim izik from visiting their relatives in the same prison, informed a source of the Ministry of Occupied Territories and Communities Abroad.

The jail’s administration punished the prisoners and subjected them to a thorough inspection, after they held a sit-in in the jail’s visiting hall to demand their just and legitimate rights, according to the same source.

Shaheed Al Hafed (refugee camps), Feb 19, 2012 (SPS) - The Raporteur of the Parliament Election’s Preparatory Committee and Minister of Interior, Mr. Hamada Salma, has noted that the exercise of oversight in a liberation movement still struggling to achieve sovereignty over usurped land “is an embodiment of the practice of democracy in its depth.”

Bir Lehlou (liberated territories), Feb 19, 2012 (SPS) - The President of the Republic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz, has appealed to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to “immediately intervene” for the Moroccan state in order to release the six Saharawi students, who have been incarcerated in Sale 2’s jail since April 2011 on the ground of their participation in sit-ins denouncing the assassination of the Saharawi student Hbad Hamadi.

Bir Lehlou (liberated territories), Feb 18, 2012 (SPS) - In a statement of Secretariat of the Branches, the Polisario Front denied Saturday its participation at the Congress of the Authenticity and Modernity Moroccan Party, expressing surprise to the resort of some Moroccan parties to such “fabrications that have no base.”

Algiers, Feb 18, 2012 (SPS) - The President of the New Algerian Party “Union for Democracy and Republic (UDR)” noted Friday, during the founding congress of his party, that in spite of the fact that the question of Western Sahara has been classified by the international bodies as a matter of decolonization, but procrastination of the UN and bias of some powers to the Moroccan positions “thwart the holding of the referendum on self-determination, despite considering it as the only way to end the conflict of Western Sahara.”

Shaheed Al Hafed (refugee camps), Feb 18, 2012 (SPS) - The Preparatory political conferences for the elections of the Saharawi National Council (Parliament) started today morning in the 11 constituencies in the refugee camps, regions of the People’s Liberation Army and liberated territories.

The conferences initiated with standing a minute of silence in memory of the martyrs, listening to the Saharawi anthem and speeches of heads of the conferences.

London, Feb 18, 2012 (SPS) - The President of the European Coordination of Committees of Solidarity with the Saharawi people, Mr. Pierre Galand, declared the intention of the European Parliament to invite the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Mr. Christopher Ross, in the near future to give thorough clarifications on the ongoing course of negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front under the UN auspices, reported Saturday the London based newspaper of Al-Quds.

Berlin, Feb 18, 2012 (SPS) - The Spanish Actor, Mr. Javier Bardem, presented Thursday his documentary “Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony” at the sixty-two edition of the Berlin Film Festival.

In this documentary, Bardem tells the story of the former Spanish colony (Western Sahara) that Morocco has illegally occupied since 1975, and aimed to focus on the situation of the Saharawi people, a cause which he defends and sympathizes with.

This cultural event, which was opened Feb 9, is expected to shut down this Saturday by presenting awards.