08/06/2024
CODAPSO Decries Mistreatment of Vice President at El Aaiún Airport
Equipe Media
El Aaiún, Occupied Western Sahara - June 8, 2024
The Committee for the Defense of the Right to Self-Determination of the People of Western Sahara (CODAPSO) strongly condemns the mistreatment of its Vice President, Hmad Hammad, upon his return to El Aaiún from Spain on June 5, 2024. Mr. Hammad, who had been receiving medical treatment in Spain, faced verbal abuse and insults from security agents at the airport's customs checkpoint.
In an official statement sent to Equipe Media, CODAPSO denounced the Moroccan police's abusive behavior as a clear violation of human rights. The organization emphasized that such actions against Mr. Hammad are entirely unjustified and exemplify the ongoing oppression faced by Sahrawi activists in the occupied territories.
For further details, Equipe Media contacted Mr. Hammad who provided details about the incident, stating that it could happen to other Sahrawi activists as it has happened in the past and is still happening now. He stressed the urgent need to expand the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara to include human rights monitoring, and emphasized the importance of applying international humanitarian law in the territories that should be administered by the United Nations.
Mr. Hammad further criticized the absence of a human rights monitoring component within the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). He argued that this omission emboldens the occupying power to continue violating fundamental rights with impunity. He reminded Spain, as the administrative power of Western Sahara, that it remains responsible for the fate of the Sahrawi people until they can exercise their right to self-determination and achieve independence.
