New York (United Nations) – The Polisario Front has renewed its call for the United Nations Security Council to urgently activate the UN’s legal and moral responsibility toward the Sahrawi people, particularly civilians in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. This appeal follows the recent killing of Sahrawi citizen Omar Bahya El Hassan in Laayoune, allegedly at the hands of Moroccan occupation forces, which Polisario strongly condemned.
In a letter sent on Wednesday to Ambassador Barbara Woodward, the UK’s Permanent Representative to the UN and the current President of the Security Council, Polisario’s UN representative and MINURSO coordinator, Mohamed Sidi Amar, condemned what he described as the “heinous crime” committed by Moroccan forces. He reiterated Polisario’s urgent demand for the Security Council to enforce the UN’s duty to protect the Sahrawi people, emphasizing the need for an independent UN mechanism to monitor and report on human rights violations in Western Sahara.
The letter details the events surrounding the death of Omar Bahya El Hassan, citing family testimonies stating that he was detained by Moroccan police officers on motorcycles shortly after leaving his sister’s store on November 3. The family reportedly made multiple attempts to locate him, only to be informed on November 7 that Bahya, who had been held at the notorious “Lakhal Prison” in Laayoune, was taken to a hospital where they learned from staff that he had arrived deceased.
Polisario denounced this killing as part of a broader pattern of alleged abuses by Moroccan authorities against the Sahrawi people. According to the statement, Moroccan forces have committed various atrocities, including mass executions, burying victims in mass graves, helicopter assaults, arbitrary detentions, torture, and enforced disappearances. It claims that Moroccan forces have also used internationally banned weapons, such as napalm and white phosphorus, against Sahrawi civilians.
The letter concludes by highlighting what Polisario describes as Morocco’s continued impunity, aided by entities that oppose international oversight in Western Sahara. This alleged resistance to scrutiny, it argues, is intended to conceal the dire conditions faced by the Sahrawi people under occupation since 1975.
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Author: Nor-Eleslam
Polisario, United Nations, Western Sahara, Human Rights, Security Council
