Moroccan repression does not hep in creating the needed climate for negotiations, Mr. Abdelaziz warns
15/06/2007- Sahara Press Service

The Moroccan repression against the Saharawi citizens in the occupied territories does not help in creating the needed climate for the negotiations between POLISARIO Front and Morocco, expected this Monday in New York, warned the President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, in a letter addressed on Monday to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-mon.

Mr. Abdelaziz stresses the recent example of the "show trials" on Tuesday in Rabat against nine Saharawi students, who ere condemned to eight months imprisonment and 500 DH fine.

He estimated that this Moroccan attitude "does not contribute in creating the needed climate for these direct negotiation, based on the good faith, ad which should provide for the self-determination for the Saharawi people conforming to the Security Council’s resolution 1754".

To the Head of the State, "this blind repression goes beyond the physical aspect to attack the opinion" in the sense that the Moroccan court’s sentences against the Saharawi students in the periods of examination have "negative consequences on the future of these students".

The Saharawi President stressed however the "repeated delays" of the trials of four Saharawi human rights activists, incarcerated "illegally" sine a long period, including Mr. Yahdih Terrouzi, who was savagely ill-treated "inside the court itself" in El Aaiun.

The Head of the Saharawi State recalled the UN Secretary General of "the numerous letters" he addressed him since last May regarding the "wave of repression" that stroke "a big number of Saharawi students, from both sexes" in the Moroccan universities, which resulted in the loss of the right eye of one of the students, Ms. Soltana Khaya, under torture.

He finally asked for the immediate release of "all the Saharawi political prisoners, to draw the light on the fate of more than 500 civilians victim of forced disappearance and 151 prisoners of war in Moroccan custody since the illegal occupation of our territory since October the 31st 1975". (SPS)