NGO pleads for sensitizing international public opinion on Moroccan detainees in Tindouf

The London-based international Committee for support of Moroccan detainees in Tindouf called Friday for raising the awareness of the international public opinion on the inhuman conditions and the suffering of Moroccan detainees in Tindouf camps, southern Algeria.

The camps are controlled by the Algeria-backed Polisario front, that is claiming the separation of Morocco's southern provinces, known as the Sahara. This former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords.

Members of the NGO, which groups political figures, university professors and jurists from the UK, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, highlighted in a statement to the Moroccan national TV the human character of their mission. The main goal, they said, is to release all Moroccans detained in Tindouf.

Since its establishment in 2004, the Committee has made several initiatives to raise the international public awareness on the tragedy of the Moroccans held captives by the Polisario separatists.

Members of the Committee held Friday in the Moroccan capital a series of meetings in the parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. They also held talks with officials of organizations operating in human rights and with former detainees in Tindouf camps.

The Committee will visit the southern Moroccan city of Laayoune next week.