Bir-Lahlou, June 26, 2020 - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Gali, has expressed his concern about the serious situation in which Sahrawi civilian prisoners are held in Moroccan jails, amid the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“It is with great concern that I am writing to you to inform that information received from the territories of Western Sahara under the illegal Moroccan occupation indicates that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread significantly over a short period of time in those territories” President of the Republic said in his letter
In a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the President of the Republic said, " the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread significantly over a short period of time in those territories that were free of the epidemic until recently. More than two hundred infections were reported in the occupied city of El Aaiún and its surroundings in the past few days, despite the secrecy of the Moroccan occupation authorities.
"This highly disturbing humanitarian situation is a direct result of the Moroccan occupation authorities’ disregard for the lives of the Sahrawi civilians under siege by allowing many people, including persons infected with COVID-19, to enter the occupied Western Sahara without having to observe quarantine rules and other precautionary measures." Brahim Gali added.
He went on saying that While the Moroccan authorities continue to use the restrictions related to the global pandemic to tighten their blockade on the occupied territories of Western Sahara in order to persist unchecked in terrorising the Sahrawi civilians, they have also been bringing hundreds of Moroccan workers and settlers to the occupied Western Sahara to cause more infections and endanger the lives of our people.
The President of the Republic held the Moroccan occupation state fully responsible for the lives of Sahrawi civilian prisoners in its jails, calling on the UN Secretary-General to urgently intervene to put an end to this heinous behavior, end the suffering of Sahrawi civilian prisoners and their families, release them immediately, and provide the conditions necessary for them to join their homeland, families and relatives. SPS
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