The two Norwegians, Ingeborg Sævik Heltne (25) and Vivian Kaulen Nedenes, were detained at 12:30 today by 25 plainclothes Moroccan police officers while visiting the home of Rafto Prize winner Sidi Mohamed Daddach in occupied Western Sahara.

This video below was taken from a distance: It shows the two Norwegian women surrounded by a swarm of Moroccan police officers as they are escorted out of the house that they were visiting. (Video can also be downloaded, free of use, 14 Mb).

"We were given ten minutes to get to our hotel to pack our things. Then we were ordered to leave Western Sahara. Now we’re in an escort heading to Agadir," says Heltne.

They had traveled to occupied Western Sahara to learn more about Morocco’s controversial renewable energy projects in the territory. Western Sahara is considered by the UN as the last unresolved colonial issue on the African continent. Morocco is developing large areas in the occupied territories for green energy.

The two Norwegians are Ingeborg Sævik Heltne (25), who works with the Norwegian Council for Africa and has written a master's thesis on how Morocco uses the renewable sector to consolidate its occupation, and Vivian Kaulen Nedenes (22), a student and central board member of Socialist Youth. Heltne is also a board member of the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara.

Here are two videos taken inside the house as the expulsion takes place. Video 1, video 2. 

The two explain that they have been continuously followed by Moroccan police since they arrived in Western Sahara a day and a half ago. It took only an hour and a half from the time they arrived at Daddach's home at 11:00 until the group of 25 police officers came to their door at 12:30. The detention was documented by local human rights activists. According to information received by the Support Committee, one of the plainclothes men was reportedly the deputy governor of El Aaiún, and another was the regional Moroccan security chief.

The police took the two Norwegians’ passports and checked their phones. When the police saw that they had taken photos in the streets of El Aaiún, the Norwegians were told they needed prior permission from Morocco's capital, Rabat, to take such photos, as it is allegedly illegal to take pictures in public spaces.

Daddach received the Bergen-based Rafto Prize in 2002 after spending 24 years in Moroccan prisons, including 14 years on death row.

The purpose of the trip to Western Sahara was to learn from Sahrawis about how they experience the massive Moroccan investment in renewable energy. Morocco is trying to get states internationally to enter into climate cooperation agreements. This directly affects the occupied territories. This summer, France pledged to finance a giant power cable connecting energy production in the occupied areas to the Moroccan power grid.

It has been less than a month since the EU Court ruled that European-Moroccan trade agreements cannot apply in Western Sahara and that the Sahrawi people have the right to consent.

“As long as the Sahrawis cannot express themselves about Morocco's climate projects, serious alarm bells should ring for states and companies. Not only is it wrong to support occupation, but agreements with Morocco are also on shaky legal ground if the Sahrawis' right to self-determination is not respected. And Morocco has absolutely no interest in addressing that right,” says Heltne.

Morocco uses renewable energy, among other things, to settle Moroccan citizens in the occupied territory."