Polisario Front calls for UN intervention over Sahrawi prisoners in Morocco

Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front, has formally requested that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres intervene regarding the critical situation of Sahrawi prisoners held in Morocco. In a letter to Guterres, Ghali called for the immediate release of these individuals and emphasized the UN's responsibility to protect Sahrawis from what he described as repressive practices in Western Sahara.

The appeal follows reports of hunger strikes initiated by prisoners on September 23 to protest their detention conditions. Ghali also highlighted the repression of a protest held on October 12 in Rabat by relatives and supporters of the detainees. He demanded that prisoners be granted international legal guarantees, including medical care, communication access, and transfer to locations closer to Western Sahara.

In a related development, Moroccan authorities prevented Claude Mangin-Asfari, the wife of Sahrawi political prisoner Naâma Asfari, from entering the country. Mangin-Asfari was traveling with an official delegation from the French city of Ivry-sur-Seine to visit her husband in a Marrakech prison. While the Mayor of Ivry-sur-Seine and a local councilor were permitted entry, Mangin-Asfari was detained at the airport. Naâma Asfari, a member of the Gdeim Izik group, was recently transferred to Marrakech following a hunger strike.