Saharawi Government strongly condemns harsh sentences against Gdeim Izik prisoners

The Saharawi government through a Ministry of Information statement, strongly condemned the sentences against Saharawi political prisoners knows as Gdeim Izik Group, considering that "the verdicts are a clear repetition of Those issued by the Military Tribunal before. "

The statement recalled that the Saharawi Government "is a palpable new violation of international humanitarian law, and as expected, (...) the Moroccan occupying State issued on the morning of July 19, 2017 illegal judgments against the group of prisoners of Gdeim Izik. what is a clear repetition of sentences issued by the Military Tribunal in 2013, including life sentences and dozens of years. "

In this context, the statement of the Saharawi Government reflects "the strong condemnation and rejection of this new crime against Sahrawi defenseless civilians. This reflects the common attitudes of the forces of occupation and colonization" the Sahrawi government condemns, before considering that those judgments were not based on sufficient evidence and amid "prisoners' complaints of torture during their interrogation," according to reports from international observers. "It has been confirmed that the Moroccan occupying state could not argue the accusations against the prisoners, despite resorting to forbidden methods such as torture, threats and false witnesses," the statement said, adding that "all trials of the Moroccan occupying State against Saharawi citizens, under any denomination, constitutes an illegal occupying military trial. "

"The Saharawi people will continue their struggle for the achievement of their legitimate rights of freedom, self-determination and independence," explains the note that greeted "the heroic resistance of the prisoners of Gdeim Izik and all the Saharawis who accompanied them throughout the judgment".

"It is time for the international community to assume its responsibility to stop Morocco's savage attitudes and the absence of credible political will to collaborate with the efforts of the UN Secretary-General," concludes the communiqué of the Saharawi Government, demanding the decolonization of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa, "to work to ensure respect for the human rights of its population, to stop the plundering of its natural resources and to immediately release the prisoners of Gdeim Izik and all Saharawi prisoners in Moroccan prisons" , The note ends. SPS