Sahrawi body slams conference in France supporting 'polisario torturers'

A body mustering Sahrawi human rights associations denounced the attitude of organizers of the European Conference of Solidarity with the Polisario, recently held in France, saying "for us, victims of the separatists' maltreatment, this is support to the torturers of our co-citizens held in the Tindouf camps."

In a letter to organizers, the body says "those who consider themselves friends of the hypothetical entity should know that their attitude only contributes to sustaining the suffering of thousands of torn families, are nailed down to Algerian soil as hostages waiting for their children, shipped off to Cuba against their will."

This is support to a single-party tyranny whose atrocities are etched forever in our bodies and memories, the letter reads, adding that countless people perished anonymously in the Tindouf jails.

France Libertes, a human rights NGO chaired by Danielle Mitterand, the widow of the former French President, called donors, including the EU, to investigate Polisario's embezzlement of humanitarian aid, which is sold or traded in Southern Algeria or neighboring countries.

The call came in a report issued by the Organization following a fact-finding mission in Tindouf.

France Libertes, which has for long supported the Guerilla movement against Morocco, confirmed the HR violations and tortures sustained by the camps population and laid particular emphasis on the case of Moroccan POWs, who "have been forced into building most of the camps infrastructure."