Bir-Lahlou, September 7, 2019 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Brahim Ghali, has condemned the false trials carried out by the Moroccan occupation against Sahrawi civilian prisoners arrested following the brutal intervention on the eve of their spontaneous celebration of the Algerian football team's win in Africa Cup of Nations, in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres.
“The Moroccan occupation authorities have prepared a number of files, to fabricate unfair charges against the civilian prisoners they arrested following their brutal intervention on July 19, 2019, to present them to an occupation court, to issue its ready judgments between one and two and a half years and financial fines against a group of them,” said the President of the Republic.
“The phases of this mock trial witnessed many delays, refusal to conduct medical expertise on civilian prisoners to verify their testimony about the torture they suffered in Moroccan police stations, in addition to violating the principle of public hearings and, in particular, preventing international observers and Sahrawi citizens from attending the hearings,” he added.
The President of the Republic renewed call in his letter to expedite an independent international investigation in order to uncover all the circumstances of the heinous crime that killed Sahrawi young Sabah Othman Hamida and dozens of unarmed Sahrawi victims, following the brutal Moroccan intervention against Sahrawi civilians on the night of 19 to 20 July 2019.
He also reiterated call on the United Nations to accelerate the process of decolonization in Africa's last colony, and to end the illegal and immoral status of an illegitimate and brutal military occupation force, flagrantly and explicitly violates international law and international humanitarian law.
Finally, the President of the Republic called on the United Nations to intervene to protect unarmed Sahrawi citizens in the occupied Sahrawi territories, lift the siege imposed on them, put an end to such practices and violations, and release this group, which is only guilty of wanting to celebrate the victory of a brotherly sports team, and all Sahrawi civilian prisoners in Moroccan prisons, insisting on enabling MINURSO to have an effective mechanism for the protection, monitoring and reporting of human rights in Western Sahara. (SPS)
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