Morocco convicts Western Sahara activists to life

Twenty four Western Saharan activists [2] were convicted by a Moroccan military court on Saturday, including nine life sentences for the activists' role in the killing of Moroccan soldiers at a protest camp in 2010, AP reported on Sunday.

Security forces were sent in to the Western Saharan protest camp near Laayoune [3] close to the unofficial Moroccan border, after negotiations with protestors broke down in November 2010. The resulting clashes killed eleven Moroccan soldiers and two Sahrawis. 

Mohammed Messoudi, a defense lawyer, said the trial should not have gone ahead in a military court: “the accused did not have all their rights because in a military trial we can’t appeal the verdicts,” he told AP. 

The issue of Western Sahara has been a sensitive one for Morocco. The government does not recognize it as a separate state, instead referring to the area as the "Southern Provinces". Sahrawis have long fought for independence [4] ever since their territory was annexed by Morocco and neighboring Mauritania in 1975.

According to Messoudi, the convicted activists were tortured while under detention. Global rights organization, Amnesty International [5], also argued that civilians should not be tried before a military court. 

“[It] does not meet internationally recognized standards for a fair trial,” Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Mideast director, said in a statement. “Allegations of the torture of detainees must be investigated and any evidence obtained under torture must be dismissed by the court,” he added.

[6] © 2013 Al Bawaba (Albawaba.com)