Morocco: Protests as 24 Sahrawis tried
2013-02-01 13:46
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Morocco
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Rabat - Rival protests were held on Friday outside a
military tribunal in the Moroccan capital where 24 Sahrawis accused of killing
members of the security forces in the Western Sahara in 2010 are being tried.
The politically charged trial, which is being attended by a
number of independent foreign observers, has been repeatedly delayed, with the
defendants held in custody for more than two years.
The authorities say 11 people died in the clashes, among
them members of the security forces, which broke out as the army moved to
dismantle the Gdim Izik camp where thousands of local Sahrawis were living in
November 2010.
The Sahrawis arrested during the unrest are accused of
violence against the security forces, of pre-meditated killing and of
mutilating the victims' bodies.
Some 100 people demonstrated outside the court in Rabat on
Friday, among them families of the victims, pro-Saharwi activists and relatives
of the accused, many of whom were allowed to attend the trial, an AFP
journalist said.
Some relatives of the victims remained outside the tribunal,
waving banners that read: "We know who the killers are, so where is
justice?"
Ahead of the trial, observers and rights groups expressed
concern over allegations the defendants were tortured in custody, about the
case being tried by a military court, and about the possible death penalty
facing the accused, if convicted.
At dawn on 8 November 2010, Moroccan security forces moved
to dismantle the Western Sahara camp, near the territory's main city of
Laayoune, which thousands of Sahrawis had set up in protest over their living
conditions.
The intervention sparked clashes that spread to nearby
Laayoune, where businesses and public buildings were looted and torched.
The authorities said 11 were killed in the unrest, while the
Algeria-based Polisario Front separatists said dozens of people lost their
lives.
Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975, in a move
never recognised by the international community.
The Polisario Front launched its struggle for independence
even before the annexation, with the resulting war lasting until 1991 when the
UN brokered a ceasefire, but a settlement of the conflict still remains
elusive.
