El Aaiun (Occupied Territories), 7 December 2020 (SPS) - Four Sahrawi and international organizations have published a report calling for urgent measures to face Moroccan occupation's oppression against Sahrawi journalists in the occupied territories, disclosing that more than 35 young Sahrawis have been arrested since the breakdown of the ceasefire.
The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara and the Spanish Human Rights Organization (Nomads), in collaboration with Saharawi media and the Nushatta Foundation, drafted a report Friday documenting the human rights situation in occupied Saharawi cities, in the light of the state of war in Western Sahara resulting from the Moroccan aggression in El-Guerguerat on November 13.
The report points out that Saharawi journalists and human rights activists are subjected to a "massive campaign of intimidation and harassment," calling on people and organizations to take action to denounce such practices.
The report also mentions the arrest of more than 35 young Saharawis since the resumption of hostilities between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the youngest being 12 years old and most of them between 16 and 17 years old.
The call, the first version of which was published on November 20, focuses on one of the most at-risk groups, namely Saharawi journalists, whose work is fundamental to understanding the scale and scope of current human rights violations in the territory.
For decades, Morocco has tried to ensure that there are no international witnesses to its violations of human rights and the humanitarian law in Western Sahara.
Saharawi journalists are subjected to fierce repression, surveillance, harassment, threats, arbitrary arrests and arbitrary detention under harsh prison sentences. (SPS)
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