London, Sept 14, 2013 (SPS) - Amnesty International has urged that the perpetrators of the mass grave, discovered in Western Sahara by a Spanish forensic team, “should be brought to account to put a tangible end to impunity,” adding that the MINURSO, UNHCHR and WGEID could play a role in providing international assistance and expertise and in facilitating this process.
In a press release published Thursday on its website, Amnesty International called for “the preservation of evidence which was left by the team of experts, for an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the deaths of the eight Sahrawis.”
It, in the same regard, said that those found responsible should be brought to justice, calling upon the United Nations to ensure that this happens.
AI also asked the Moroccan authorities to ensure that investigation into other remains that are awaiting discovery in this and other areas of Western Sahara “are reopened”, adding that they “should be should be sought, exhumed, identified and returned to their families.”
It is noteworthy that a Spanish forensic experts team, from the University of the Basque Country and the Aranzadi Society of Sciences, published on 10 Sept 2013 its findings this week confirming the deaths of 8 Sahrawis, including two children, who disappeared in 1976 and providing unprecedented evidence that they were extrajudicially executed by Moroccan armed forces underscore the continuing need to uncover the full truth about hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance from previous decades and to ensure justice for victims and their families.
The eight Saharawi persons are, six adults – Salma Daf Sidi Salec, Sidahmed Segri Yumani, Salama Mohamed-Ali Sidahmed Elkarcha, Salma Mohamed Sidahmed, Mohamed Abdalahe Ramdan and Mohamed Mulud Mohamed Lamin – and two children – Bachir Salma Daf and Sidi Salec Salma – were arrested in February 1976 by a Moroccan military patrol and executed by firearms on the spot, before being buried in two shallow graves in the sand and rocks, according to AI.
The experts had been approached by Sahrawi families of victims of enforced disappearance in April 2013 after a shepherd discovered human remains in the Fadret Leguiaa area, near Amgala, of Western Sahara. (SPS)
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