Strasbourg (France), Nov 19, 2011 (SPS) - In a letter addressed Wednesday, The European Parliament's Intergroup for Western Sahara has called on the European High Representative, Ms. Baroness Ashton, to pressure the Moroccan government for immediately and unconditionally release the 21 Saharawi prisoners of conscience have been on hunger strike in Sale prison near Rabat in Morocco on October 31, 2011.
The letter underlined that the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) has reported that the detainees “are victims of abuse by the prison administration; some of the prisoners are in poor health, and do not always receive the care they require.”
It added that the President of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), Khadija Ryadi, said “the fact that they are subjected to a military court is a violation of the standards of a fair trial. Since they are civilians, they should not appear before a military court.”
The Intergroup noted that European Parliament has repeatedly expressed its concern about human rights in the Saharawi territories illegally occupied by Morocco, expressing condemnation to the latest abuses in “a long and sordid history.”
It demanded that the European Parliament, High Representative and the EU member states to take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological health of the 24 Saharawi detainees as to guarantee that all the Saharawi human right defenders are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
It finally called for the immediate release the Saharawi human rights activists in Moroccan prisons. (SPS)
090/089/TRA