Spain, May 21, 2019 (SPS) - The State Coordinator of Associations in Solidarity with the Sahara People (CEAS-Sahara) denounced on Monday the "expulsion" and "lack of protection" of five Spanish lawyers and two Norwegian observers who were going to a trial of a journalist from Western Sahara.
In a statement they indicate that the five lawyers were accredited by the General Council of the Spanish Bar and the Norwegians belong to the Rafto Foundation to witness, as international observers, that trial against the journalist of Equipe Media Nazha el Khalidi, which, finally, has postponed until June 24.
They say that, after being detained yesterday for hours in the transit area of the airport of El Aaiún, they were expelled in a plane to Casablanca, where they have been embarked this afternoon on another flight to Gran Canaria.
They denounce the "silence" of the Spanish Government before the facts, which they interpret as "complicity" in the face of the "systematic violation of the most basic rights" of individuals and peoples.
They claim that Western Sahara is a non-autonomous territory pending decolonization by Spain and "illegally occupied" by Morocco.
They condemn that the Government has not contacted the expelled lawyers to be interested in their state and defend their rights as Spanish citizens.SPS
125/090/TRA