Algiers, July 14, 2012 (SPS) - Health of the Sahrawi political prisoner Sahel Rtimi, on hunger strike for 34 days, has seriously deteriorated, said Ambassador of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) to Algeria, Mr. Brahim Ghali.
"The health of Sahel Rtimi has worsened and required his transfer to the prison infirmary," Mr. Ghali told Algerian Press Service (APS).
The Sahrawi political detainee Sahel Rtimi was arrested on 3 December 2009 in the town of Tan-Tan (southern Morocco) for his participation in a peaceful demonstration calling for the right of Sahrawi people to self-determination. He was sentenced, along with other young Sahrawis, to four years imprisonment.
Rtimi started a hunger strike to protest against "the ill-treatment and the refusal of the prison's administration to consider him a political prisoner, separate him from criminals and to transfer him to the cell of the Sahrawi political prisoners. (SPS)
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