Olof Palme International Center: We demand that the Swedish government condemns the arrest of Western Saharans
13/10/2009 | Solidarity-Support
Today open the annual Palme Days in Stockholm, organised by the Olof Palme International Center. One of the invited conference speakers is Brahim Dahane, President of the human rights association ASVDH, the Sahrawi Association of Human Rights Victims. He was to talk about the Western Sahara and Morocco’s occupation of the country.
Moroccan authorities have stopped Dahane from leaving Morocco and travel to Sweden. He has been arrested along with six other human rights activists at Casablanca airport.
‘Moroccan regime is an occupying power. Now they stopped Brahim Dahane from coming to Sweden, just as the Iranian regime last year stopped Parvin Ardalan from accessing and receiving the Palme Prize. So act only states that are afraid of people’s yearning for freedom,’ said Jens Orback, the Palme Center’s General Secretary.
‘We condemn the Moroccan action and call for the immediate release of Dahane and the other detainees. We demand that the Swedish government condemns the arrest and that the Swedish Embassy in Rabat, based on Sweden’s view on human rights, gives its support to Dahane to continue working for democracy,’ said Jens Orback.
The state-controlled Moroccan news agency (MAP) writes that those arrested will be interrogated by police and then brought to court.
Today open the annual Palme Days in Stockholm, organised by the Olof Palme International Center. One of the invited conference speakers is Brahim Dahane, President of the human rights association ASVDH, the Sahrawi Association of Human Rights Victims. He was to talk about the Western Sahara and Morocco’s occupation of the country.
Moroccan authorities have stopped Dahane from leaving Morocco and travel to Sweden. He has been arrested along with six other human rights activists at Casablanca airport.
‘Moroccan regime is an occupying power. Now they stopped Brahim Dahane from coming to Sweden, just as the Iranian regime last year stopped Parvin Ardalan from accessing and receiving the Palme Prize. So act only states that are afraid of people’s yearning for freedom,’ said Jens Orback, the Palme Center’s General Secretary.
‘We condemn the Moroccan action and call for the immediate release of Dahane and the other detainees. We demand that the Swedish government condemns the arrest and that the Swedish Embassy in Rabat, based on Sweden’s view on human rights, gives its support to Dahane to continue working for democracy,’ said Jens Orback.
The state-controlled Moroccan news agency (MAP) writes that those arrested will be interrogated by police and then brought to court.
