London, December 27, 2016 (SPS) - The British Organization of Human Rights in Western Sahara, Adala UK, called on Morocco to allow the international observers’ access to Western Sahara, condemning the blockade imposed on the Sahrawi territories.
The NGO said in a message released Monday on its website, that hundreds of international human rights defenders, journalists and observers have tried to enter the Sahrawi territories occupied by Morocco and in 2016, 89 have been returned to Moroccan cities or expelled to their countries.
"They have come in response to the calls by Saharawi groups and NGOs who want to bring about an end to the block placed on the region by Morocco which is preventing people’s participation in activities of non-violent resistance against the Moroccan occupation," said Adala UK.
The NGO said that two lawyers, José Revert Calabuig and Nieves Cubas Armas, representatives of the General Council of the Spanish Legal Profession who had planned to visit the trial on 21 December of Saharawi activist Ali Saadouni and his fellow activists in Aaiun were expelled from the capital of Occupied Western Sahara at midday on 20 December.
The British NGO had already called the UN to immediately set up an international and neutral mechanism of human rights surveillance in the Sahrawi territories, as part of MINURSO mission.SPS
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