Complaint filed against Polisario separatists leader in Belgium

An association of handicapped persons, of Moroccan nationality, lodged a complaint against the leader of the secessionists "Polisario," Abdelaziz Al Marrakchi, for the sequestration of 400 handicapped Moroccans in Tindouf camps, South-Western Algeria.

The complaint was lodged by virtue of the law labelled "universal competence" that allows the Belgian justice to sue authors of humanitarian crimes regardless of their nationality, or the location where the crimes took place.

The complaint stipulates that in spite of continuous calls on the part of international humanitarian organizations, Abdelaziz Al Marrakchi carries on detaining thousands of civilians, including 400 handicapped persons, in stark defiance of the principles set forth by the international conventions.

"In order to achieve his personal ambition, Abdelaziz Al Marrakchi sequestrates and uses Moroccan civilians (children, women, disabled) as a pressure card for the materialization of his illusory and very personal schemes," the complaint reads on.

The complaint was filed by the association's president Mostapha Wafi and its secretary general Mostapha Essalki.