Morocco expels a group of Spanish members of parliament (MPs) from the Occupied Territories in Western Sahara
Today, the Moroccan police have prevented a delegation of the regional Galician Parliament from entering the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara. The delegation consisted of five MPs: GONZALO TENOR, MONTSE PRADO, XABIER RON, CONSUELO MARTÍNEZ and NOELA, from the Popular Party (PP), the Galician Nationalist Block (BNG), the Socialist Party (PSOE), the Alternative Galician Left and the Mixt Group. They were accompanied by four members of a Galician solidarity group: MAITE ISLA AVION; XOSE ENRIQUE PORTO VARELA, and Spanish journalist IRENE TOME URRESTI. The Moroccan authorities did not authorise them to disembark the plane in EL Aaiun and sent them back to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.
After her arrival at Gran Canaria airport, together with the other members of the delegation, Montse Prado, MP, said that the objective of the visit had been to verify Moroccan compliance with human rights obligations in El Aaiun and to get an understanding of the situation of the Saharawi people. She said their expulsion amounted to a violation of international law.
Prado described the situation as ‘dreadful’ because El Aaiun has been ‘blocked’, since ‘it is a hermetic territory’ that functions as a ‘prison’, where human rights are violated on a daily basis in the areas occupied by Morocco. According to her, preventing the delegation from entering the Saharan territory means ‘they have a lot to hide’.
‘In any part of the world cameras and media go around and see what is happening, and it is tremendous that in the occupied areas of Western Sahara violations of human rights and sovereignty are systematic and nothing happens’, emphasized Prado.
‘If the expulsions of Spanish citizens took place in other countries like Venezuela, without any further explanation, they would generate a diplomatic conflict. For this reason we have requested the Spanish Government to demand explanations from Morocco about this expulsion, as the delegation was carrying out a peaceful visit to get to know a territory’, Prado adds.
Prado also insisted that ‘Spain should be the first country to show an interest in what is happening in the territories occupied by Morocco’.
The expulsion by Morocco of a delegation of the Galician Parliament compounded by five MP, solidary volunteers and a journalist, is a flagrant attempt to prevent the lawful investigation of the human rights situation and to silence critics of the occupation.
Adala UK reiterates that an impartial and continued observation of the human rights situation in Western Sahara by the UN would offer more protection to a people that live under the daily threat of abuses at the hands of the Moroccan authorities in the occupied territories in Western Sahara.