Sale 1 (Morocco),Nov 21, 2013 (SPS) - The group of Saharawi prisoners of Gdeim Izik, currently incarcerated in Sale 1 Prison in Morocco, has stressed the need to establish a UN mechanism to protect human rights in Western Sahara, in a letter addressed Wednesday to the U.S. President Barack Obama.
"The situation in the occupied territories is increasingly worsening due to the gross violations of Saharawi human rights by the Moroccan state, a thing that confirms the urgent need to accelerate the establishment of a UN mechanism to protect human rights in the Western Sahara," stated the letter.
It called for the immediate release of all Saharawi political detainees and prisoners of war who are still languishing in Moroccan prisons.
It also asked to unveil the whereabout of the Sahrawis missing, stop the plundering of Saharawi natural resources by Morocco and remove the wall of shame that separates the Sahrawi people and territory.
The group hailed the efforts being made by the United States, government, people, organizations and civil society, worldwide to support the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and the respect for international" legitimacy.
They, therefore, welcomed the "courageous and historic decision" taken by the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council Ms. Susan Rice, which calls for the enlargment of MINURSO prerogatives to include human rights monitoring and protection. (SPS)
090/089/TRA