On 31st October, to mark the 34th anniversary of the occupation of Western Sahara, campaigners held a vigil outside the Moroccan embassy in London where they called for an end to the current crackdown on peaceful activists and the release of seven prominent human rights defenders currently imprisoned, awaiting sentence from a military court in Rabat. Their ‘crime’ was to visit the refugee camps where around 165,000 Saharawi refugees have lived for three decades. The arrests have been condemned by politicians and human rights organisations around the world including Amnesty International.

MPs and campaigners signed the following letter.

"Thirty-four years ago today, just weeks after the International Court of Justice ruled that Morocco had no territorial claim to Western Sahara, Moroccan troops invaded the territory. To mark the anniversary of this unlawful occupation, campaigners will today hold a vigil outside the Moroccan embassy where they will call for an end to the current crackdown on peaceful activists and the release of seven prominent human rights defenders currently awaiting sentence from a military court in Rabat. Their arrest has been condemned by Amnesty International and there are fears the escalation of repression in the occupied territories might scupper UN-sponsored negotiations planned for the near future.

Against the backdrop of Halloween, the Saharawi people reflect on the iniquity of occupation and are haunted by the ghosts of those who have fallen in the protracted struggle to liberate Africa's last colony."

Find out more at www.freesahara.ning.com
Or come to the next meeting - 3rd Nov, 6.30, Development House, Leonard St, (Old Street Tube)


Jeremy Corbyn MP (Chair All Party Parliamentary Group on Western Sahara)

Joan Walley MP

Y. Lamine Baali (Chief Representative of the Polisario Front in the UK)

Mark Leutchford President (Western Sahara Campaign UK)

Stefan Simanowitz (Chair, Free Western Sahara Network)

Ruth Tanner (Campaigns Director, War on Want)