Polisario demands protection of prisoners observing hunger strike in Morocco

The Polisario Front called on the UN secretary general Kofi Annan to interfere in order to prevent the worsening of the situation of prisoners in the Western Sahara who continue a hunger strike since one month.

This came in a message sent by the representative of the front in New York, Ahmad Bukhari, to the UN secretary general in which he accused the Moroccan government of practicing "repression and brutality" against the Sahara civilians, and asked him to interfere personally to avoid a dramatic end for their case.

The Polisario explained that if one of the Sahara political prisoners dies as a result of a deterioration in his health condition, this will be a serious setback for the possibility of the success of the peace process in the western Sahara.

Some 37 persons from the West Sahara were arrested during and after acts of riots against Morocco in the Sahara in May, and they are distributed on three prisons.

Many of them were tried and sentenced to prison for periods reaching five years over accusations that include damaging public property and the use of weapons against citizens. Other prisoners still await trial.

The prisoners started their strike on August 8 demanding Morocco to recognize them as political prisoners, and to improve their prison conditions. This came ten days before the Polisario Front, which is Algeria based and supported, released 404 Moroccan prisoners from among 2400 it had jailed during long gang-war against the Moroccan government.

The Moroccan ministry of justice said that only between 20-22 of those prisoners joined an actual hunger strike, while the Moroccan Human Rights organization said that 29 persons are taking part in the food strike.