Spanish Judge starts Genocide proceedings against Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara

30 Oct 2007 | Press

Top Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon (left) has ordered the opening of an inquiry into allegations of genocide in the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara.

The Western Saharan plaintiffs are also looking for accountability for the 542 Sahrawis that Morocco ‘disappeared’ during the war with the pro-independence Polisario Front from 1975-1991.

The file also highlights crimes against humanity committed by Morocco since its invasion of Western Sahara, notably the frequent use of torture by Moroccan authorities against Western Saharan nationalists.

These charges reach the highest levels of the Moroccan security establishment, and into the royal palace, according to the Spanish paper El Pais. The late and widely despised Interior Minister, Driss Basri, is named, as is Yassine Mansouri, a close advisor to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI. The head of Morocco’s armed forces, Housni Benslimane, and head of National Security, Hamidou Lanigri, are also accused.

Earlier this month, a French magistrate issued an international arrest warrant for Benslimane relating to the 1965 murder of Moroccan opposition leader Ben Barka.

UPDATE: See also Associated Press, ‘Spanish judge to open inquest into suspected atrocities against North African Saharawi people’ (30 October 2007).