Yet again, the Saharawi activist Sultana Khaya has been beaten by Moroccan police.
Published 14 May 2016
In 2007 she was beaten so hard that
her eye fell out. She was also met with serious rounds of police violence
in 2011 and
2013. In 2012 she was on a visit to Norway, meeting several Norwegian political organisations.
The pictures that the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara have received below were taken following a demonstration which Khaya took part in, on the 29 March, in the town of Boujdour in occupied Western Sahara. The pictures show bruises on the thighs, shoulders and arms.
"We demonstrated in solidarity with the Saharawi political prisoners. Plainclothed police came and beat us up", Khaya told on phone to the Norwegian Support Committee.
"I was pulled along the road and beaten and kicked. They tore up my clothes", she said.
The UN Security Council end of April decided to prolong the UN operation in Western Sahara with one more year. Previous requests from countries like the US and the UK to having the UN monitoring the human rights situation in Western Sahara were not taken into the resolution this year. Suggestions on a UN monitoring of human rights abuses are traditionally shot down by France, Morocco's main ally in the council. France is a strong opponent of human rights monitoring in the occupied territory.
Western Sahara has been partially occupied by Morocco since 1975.