The first group, consisting of among others the vice-president of the Labour Party of the city of Bergen, Mr. Rasmus Laupsa Rasmussen, was detained near the bus stop in El Aaiun city around noon. The four Norwegians were then detained by police in the office of the bus station by a dozen police officers, and yelled at and forced to take a car out of the territory.
"We travelled to Wesern Sahara to inverview the Saharawis about the upcoming oil exploration in the territory", Mr. Rasmussen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
The group was explained they were "Persona non grata", according to Mr. Rasmussen. Around 2 PM, the police car they were was filled with gas, and is now heading towards Agadir. At 2 PM, another Norwegian delegation consisting of 3 persons, travelling for the student solidarity organisation SAIH, were detained when entering the territory. (photo to right).
"We were simply told we were not welcome to El Aaiun and that people who claim they are tourists cannot visit Western Sahara", Almaz Asfaha told, of the board of SAIH.
4 Norwegian delegations have been expelled from Western Sahara or South Morocco over the course of the last 2 weeks.
Kosmos Energy is planning to drill in Western Sahara in October, and the company has not been in a dialogue with the people of Western Sahara regarding getting a permission to drill there. The company has only approached the occupying power, Morocco.
UN body calls for the release of imprisoned Saharawi student
In a decision published yesterday, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concludes that the detention of the Saharawi student and human rights defender Al-Hussein Al-Bachir Ibrahim is arbitrary. The UN Working Group called on Morocco to immediately release him from the deplorable prison conditions.
Two Norwegians Are Now Being Deported from Occupied Western Sahara
Two more Norwegians, who travelled to occupied Western Sahara to learn about Morocco’s controversial energy projects in the territory, were detained by Moroccan police this afternoon and deported.
Norwegians deported from occupied Western Sahara - wanted to learn about renewable energy
Today, 25 Moroccan police officers showed up to expel two Norwegians from occupied Western Sahara. The two had traveled to learn what the Sahrawis think about Morocco's controversial renewable energy projects on occupied land.
UN committee highlights Moroccan impunity in occupied Western Sahara
Sahrawi civil society welcomes a new report from the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance, and urges exhumations and identification of victims in the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara.