Impunity Watch: Middle East

Moroccan Activist Sentenced to Three Years for Contempt

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RABAT, Morocco- On June 24, Moroccan human rights activist Chekib El-Khiari, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for “gravely insulting state institutions” and for minor violations of Moroccan foreign account regulations. In addition, El-Khiari has been fined about 753,000 dirhams (US $90,360) for his actions. El-Khiari has been actively speaking out against Morocco’s drug policies for several years.

Human Rights Activist Chekib El-Khiari, Image Courtesy of Global Voices Online

El-Khiari was convicted of “gravely insulting state institutions” for his criticism that Morocco is failing to regulate and reign in the drug trade. This crime carries a maximum sentence of one month to one year imprisonment and a fine between 1,200 and 5,000 dirhams (US $144 to US $600), according to the Moroccan Penal code articles 263 and 265.

El-Khiari was also convicted of violating Moroccan foreign finance regulations for opening a bank account abroad in Melilla, in which he deposited € 225 (US $288) after he received authorization from the Moroccan exchange office. This money was payment for an article that El-Khiari wrote for the Spanish daily El País in 2006.

Human Rights Watch has speculated that the financial charges were only added in order to increase the maximum sentence El-Khiari could receive, and to further discredit El-Khiari and his statements. “Morocco is opening up in some respects, but its treatment of Chekib El-Khiari shows that when someone speaks out in ways that truly bother officials, they come down on him like a ton of bricks," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Whitson further charged that the verdict against El-Khiari violates the basic right of freedom of expression, and that the verdict was meant to silence other activists in Morocco’s Rif region and to intimidate others.

Moroccan news agency MAP reported that Khayari also has been accused of taking money from foreign leaders in order to lead a campaign to discredit Moroccan efforts to stop drug trafficking.
El-Khiari is being held at Oukacha Prison in Casablanca, and his lawyers are planning to appeal the June 24 verdict.    

For more information, please see:

E-Taiwan News- Moroccan Activist Gets 3 Years in Jail on Contempt- 26 June 2009

Global Voices Online - Morocco: Human Rights Activist Jailed for Whistleblowing- 26 June 2009

Reuters- Morocco Court Jails Critic of Govt Drugs Policy- 24 June 2009

Human Rights Watch- Morocco: Narco-Traffic Whistleblower Unfairly Sentenced-24 June 2009

Palestinian Journalists Caught in Political Power Struggle

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RAMALLAH, West Bank – On June 22, Palestinian government forces shut down the offices of As-Subeh (The Morning) and detained the newspaper’s chief editor, Sari Al-Qudweh.

The closure and arrest are the latest in a troubling trend in the Palestinian Territories, as journalists are entangled in the power struggle between the competing Hamas and Fatah parties.  In May 2009, Oussid Amarena of the Al-Aqsa television network was arrested, as was Mustapha Sabri, bureau chief for the pro-Hamas newspaper Filasteen.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) issued a report in May 2009 that since Hamas gained power in Gaza in 2007, media organizations in the Palestinian Territories have increasingly split along party lines, and have suffered threats on both sides.  While journalists in pro-Hamas organizations are detained in the West Bank, those working for pro-Fatah outlets are threatened by Gaza police.  Many journalists have been repeatedly arrested, while others have had passports revoked.  Those arrested are rarely charged with any crimes.  Reporters Without Borders has condemned the targeting of reporters by the opposing parties.

“Journalists are again paying the price of the political tension between the different Palestinian factions,” the press freedom advocacy group said in a recent statement.  “The Palestinian Authority does not allow any view but its own to be voiced in the West Bank and does not hesitate to harass pro-Hamas journalists.  The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip is no better.”

The Palestinian journalists’ union has also openly criticized the recent arrests and has called for the release of the detained journalists, saying in a statement that journalists should not be the target of political conflicts.  Both Hamas and Fatah have bans on publications they perceive as partisan.  The UNHCR reports that coercive measures by both parties have forced Palestinian journalists into self-censorship and have stifled freedom of information in the Palestinian Territories.

For more information, please see:

Ma’an News Agency – De Facto Government Shuts Down Gaza Newspaper, Detains Chief Editor - 24 June 2009

Reporters Without Borders – More Journalists Arrested as a Resule of Tensions Between Palestinian Factions  – 29 May 2009

UNHCR – World Report 2009—Palestinian Territories – 1 May 2009    

Committee to Protect Journalists – Two Journalists Released in West Bank, One Still in Prison – 3 March 2009

CNW Telbec – Palestinian Territories: Arbitrary Detention of Journalists Continues as a Result of Tension Between Hamas and Fatah – 29 August 2008

Journalists Arrested Daily in Iran

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – The BBC, Newsweek, and the Washington Times are among several western news organizations that have recently announced that their correspondents in Iran have disappeared or been detained, allegedly as a result of the Iranian government’s crackdown on media freedom.

Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that advocates for freedom of the media, condemned the disappearances, along with the arrests of several Iranian journalists.  The organization also reported that the entire editorial staff of Kalemeh Sabz, a newspaper owned by opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, was arrested by plain clothes agents from the office of Tehran’s prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi.  Mortazavi has previously come under international scrutiny due to implications of torture, illegal detentions, and the coercion of false confessions.

"Iran is in the midst of a violent and arbitrary crackdown on reformist protesters that has already claimed lives and has led to over a thousand arrests," said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch.  "The role of Mortazavi in the crackdown suggests that the authorities are preparing to bring trumped-up charges against its opponents."

Some Iranian reporters have begun to publicly advocate for media freedom.  On June 23, 180 Iranian journalists wrote an open letter to Iran’s government and the public, protesting the “deplorable and critical” state of Iran’s media and calling upon the government to abide by the Iranian constitution and to allow reporters to do their duty.  As of June 25, the Committee to Protect Journalists estimated that approximately forty journalists and media workers had been arrested by the Iranian government since the election on June 12.  One media outlet has declared that Iran is now the world leader in imprisoning journalists.

President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, said that he planned to visit Iran, on an invitation of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.  Ebadi told Reporters Without Borders that she has urged Pottering and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, to condemn Iran’s media repression and to investigate human rights abuses against journalists.

For more information, please see:

Committee to Protect Journalists – More Journalists Arrested in Iran; CPJ Seeks Their Release – 25 June 2009

Reporters Without Borders – Confessions, Arrests and a Campaign Against the Media – 25 June 2009

Washington Times – Washington Times Reporter Arrested in Iran – 24 June 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iran: Violent Crackdown on Protestors Widens – 23 June 2009

IFEX – Three More Journalists Detained, BBC Correspondent to be Deported – 22 June 2009

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Responsible for Increasing Violence in Algeria

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ALGIERS, Algeria-  On June 23, five parliamentary police were killed by insurgents, and two more were kidnapped in the Khenchela province of Algeria. This attack follows the June 19 ambush, which killed eighteen officers and one civilian. Additionally, the attack this month follows the murder of British hostage Edwin Dyer, and the killing of five paramilitary gendarmes and the shooting of nine Algerian soldiers.

“AQIM,” or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the attacks in early June, and the large ambush on June 19. This group is an independent group of Islamic militants that waged a civil war against the Algerian government in the 1990s, which killed well over 100,000 civilians. In 2006 the group joined Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist organization under the name al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

AQIM regularly targets government forces, though the number of  attacks in the past month have significantly increased  from the past few years. Before the June 19 attack, the Algerian ruling elite had been discussing a plan to reduce violence by granting amnesty to some al Qaeda militants. The plan would have extended the offer of amnesty to higher officials. Algeria was basing the plan off of a similar plan that was used in Saudi Arabia to end a three year insurgency there by al Qaeda.

Farouk Ksentini, the President of the National Advisory Commission for the Promotion of Human Rights in Algeria, stated that general amnesty would be a good way to reduce the recent violence, in an interview before the June 19 attack. However, this theory was not welcomed among some Algerians, who would prefer the militants to go to trial and be judged for their actions.  Even in Saudi Arabia, the rate of recidivism for those granted amnesty is high.

Presently, it appears as though Algeria is not focused on a plan for granting amnesty.  On June 23, following the most recent ambush, Algeria deployed 10,000 soldiers to hunt for the perpetrators of the June 19 attack. The troops have reportedly recovered many weapons, and have arrested several people.

For more information, please see:

Media Line- Algeria Deploys 10,000 Soldiers to Hunt Al-Qa’ida Bombers - 23 June 2009

Reuters- Algerian Insurgents Kill Five Police: Reports- 23 June 2009

AFP - Al-Qaeda Claims Algerian Ambush: SITE - 21 June 2009

Dallas Morning News-  19 Die as Militants Ambush Algerian Police Convoy - 19 June 2009

AP -  Militants Kill at Least 19 in Algeria - 18 June 2009

Reuters- ANALYSIS-Algeria Mulls New Amnesty to Weaken al Qaeda- 17 June 2009

International Community Calls for a Halt on the Violence in Iran

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – The United Nations, several state leaders, and human rights organizations throughout the world put out calls for the violence in Iran to cease.  Following reports that Iran has been utilizing the Basij militia group, a grassroots military organization that has a reputation for brutality, demands that Iran take action to stop the violence continue to mount.

On June 22, Amnesty International (AI) released a press-release stating that it had received information that the Iranian government was allowing the Basij to take action against protesters, who continued to come together in the streets to object to election results.  AI described the group as “a volunteer paramilitary force of men and women under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).”  Many of its members are civilians, and they often wear no uniforms.  However, reports that members of the Basij fired into a crowd of protesters on June 15 has sparked international outcry.  The protest shootings killed at least eight people.

Videos of the demonstrations and the shootings have been appearing on news stations after someone anonymously posted a video to YouTube.com that showed a 26-year-old girl who was shot and died in the street.  The girl, who was later learned to be Neda Salehi Agha Soltan, a music student, has become a martyr in Iran.  The Iranian Government has banned memorial services and other gatherings in her honor.  Despite the ban, her last words “I am burning,” have become an iconic phrase to the protesters.

Film Footage of the Protests in Iran, Courtesy of YouTube.Com

On June 22, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon made a statement about the violence.  In the statement, he expressed his growing concern about reports of the violence, stating that he has been “dismayed by the post-election violence, particularly the use of force against civilians.”   The Secretary-General urged Iran to put an immediate stop to the arrests, threats, and use of force, hoping that Iran would remember its dedication to fundamental civil and political rights.

Iran, however, has not taken kindly to the words of the UN Secretary General.  Soon after Ban Ki-Moon’s statement was released, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hassan Qashqavi held a press conference where he criticized the UN.  Calling the statement an example of “open interference” by the UN, Qashqavi went on to tell the press that “the United Nations Secretary General, under the influence of the negative atmosphere created by some powers… has ignored the realities of the recent presidential election in Iran.”  Qashqavi also stated that he believed that Ban Ki-Moon will lose international support because he made such a statement.

For more information, please see:

Times Online - Neda Salehi Agha Soltan’s Story Touches Everyone Except Iran’s Rulers – 24 June 2009

Tehran Times – Iran Says UN Chief’s Remarks Are Examples of ‘Open Interference’ – 24 June 2009

Amnesty International – Iran: Amnesty International Urges Iran to Stop Using Basij Militia to Police Demonstrators – 22 June 2009

Reuters – UN’s Ban Urges Halt To Use of Force in Iran – 22 June 2009

United Nations – Secretary-General Dismayed By Post-Election Violence in Iran – 22 June 2009

YouTube.com – Murdered Iranian Teenage Girl Gives Protestors Global Voice – 21 June 2009

Egypt Deports Son of Chechen Rebel in Spite of Concerns

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East       

CAIRO, Egypt - On June 19 Egypt deported the son of a Chechen rebel leader back to Moscow, in spite of concerns of mistreatment and torture in Russian custody. Maskhud Abdullaev, the 22 year-old son of Supyan Abdullaev, was flown to Moscow despite warnings that he may face mistreatment and torture if deported. Supyan Abdullaev, with Movladi Udugoy, founded the Islamic Resistance Party, which has fought against Russia in two disputes.

Maskhud Abdullaev was detained as a result of a bomb attack in February in a popular Cairo tourist area that killed a French teenager. Egypt blamed the attack on militants with links to the terrorist organization al Qaeda. An investigation led to security sweeps that resulted in the detention of dozens of foreign students in May. Abdullaev was detained along with five other students that were studying at Cairo’s Al-Azhar Islamic University. Abdullaev has been studying there since 2006.

The human rights organization Amnesty International reports that Abdullaev was initially held incommunicado at Egypt’s Tora prison. Amnesty also reported that Abdullaev and the other students from Al-Azhar University claimed to have refugee status in Azerbaijan. However, Egyptian authorities insisted upon the students’ return to Moscow, in spite of risks of torture and mistreatment if they are sent to Russia.

Abdullaev and Ahmed Azimov, another Chechen student from Al-Azhar, arrived in Moscow on Friday via Egypt air. These two were supposed to be deported along with four other students on Thursday, but a traffic jam separated them from the group.

Satsita, Maskhud’s mother, waited in the Moscow airport to catch a glimpse of her son when he returned. She did not see him, and could not get any further information from the customs officers or other officers. When Azimov, Abdullaev’s travel mate, came out, he said that he and Abdullaev had been separated and questioned. That was the last that Azimov had seen of Abdullaev.  

Amnesty International warned against the deportation, because it put all six students at risk of torture and mistreatment. Amnesty criticized Egypt for deporting these students. Egypt is a state party to the United Nations Convention on Torture, which expressly prohibits the return of anyone to a place which they would likely be tortured. All five students would be at risk of mistreatment, but Abdullaev would especially be at risk because of his father.

For more information, please see:

Al Arabiya-  Fate of Deported Chechen Warlord's Son Unknown- 21 June 2009

AFP- Egypt Deports Chechen Warlord's Son- 19 June 2009

Reuters- Egypt Deports Son of Chechen Rebel Leader to Moscow - 19 June 2009

AFP-Egypt Deports Chechen Students- 18 June 2009

Amnesty International- Egypt: Forcible Return/ Fear of Torture or Other Ill-Treatment- 17 June 2009

U.S. State Department Places Four Middle Eastern Countries on ‘Worst’ List for Human Trafficking

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – United States Department of State (State Dept.) released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) for 2009 on June 16.  It is the ninth TIP Report created by the State Dept. in their efforts to reduce human trafficking.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that the report “sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem,” and that she hoped that the U.S. will be seen as a partner when working towards elimination of human trafficking.   However, the report has not been well received by several Middle Eastern countries that were placed in the ‘worst’ category in the report.

The report creates four categories to define a country’s progress towards compliance with the Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act (TVPA).  Tier 1 countries – those considered to be in complete compliance with the TVPA – are mostly Western, developed countries, including most European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand.   Tier 2 countries – those who are not in compliance but are considered to be making significant progress towards compliance – are most of the remaining Western nations, and is the largest group of countries in the report.  Tier 2 Watch List Countries differ from Tier 2 countries in that the U.S. considers these countries to be losing ground in their progress, or the U.S. has found the number of persons trafficked in these countries to be numerous.  Finally, Tier 3 countries are those who are not in compliance with the TVPA and who appear to be making no progress towards compliance. 

Most Middle Eastern Countries were placed within the Tier 2 Watch List, although four Middle Eastern nations – Iran, Syria, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia – were placed in Tier 3.  Many countries have yet to make an official statement in response to the report. However, human rights groups throughout Bahrain, which was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List, have put out a “Trafficking Battle Call,” asking Bahrain to take steps towards compliance with the TVPA. 

Other countries have not had such a positive response.  Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi made a statement on June 18 harshly criticizing the United States for placing Kuwait in Tier 3.  “I have repeatedly said that Kuwait is not a country of angels but what hurts me is that the United States thinks itself to be a country of angels,” al-Khorafi explained to reporters when asked to comment on the report.  He went on to say that he believed the report falsely depicted Kuwait, stating that the U.S. “is not the world's police and not a guardian of the world and if it wants to be so it should make sure that the information it gathers is true.”  Countries that have been placed in the Tier 3 category could face economic sanctions, and be barred from any trade not related to humanitarian aid. 

For more information, please see:

Gulf Daily News – Trafficking Clamp Underway – 21 June 2009

Kuwait Times – Khorafi, MPs Blast US over Trafficking Report – 18 June 2009

Time – Human Trafficking Rises in Recession – 18 June 2009

Jerusalem Post – Four Countries ‘Blacklisted’ by US – 17 June 2009

AFP – Malaysia, Six African States Listed for Human Trafficking – 17 June 2009

U.S. Department of State – Trafficking In Persons Report 2009

Two Palestinian Journalists Jailed for Violating Israeli Censorship Laws

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

EAST JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – An Israeli District Court has sentenced two Palestinian journalists to two months in jail and six months of probation for reporting on the Israeli ground invasion in January 2009.  The pair was accused of violating Israel’s censorship laws, though some supporters of the journalists allege they were jailed because they work for an Iranian television station.

Khodr Shahine, a correspondent for Iran’s Arabic language station Al-Alam, and Mohammed Sarhan, a producer for Al-Alam, were accused of reporting on the military invasion nearly two hours before the Israeli government cleared the operation for press coverage on January 3. 

Israel rarely enforces its censorship laws, even though all accredited journalists have to sign a censorship form that requires them to clear any sensitive security information with a military censor before releasing that information.  The laws were widely ignored during Israel’s 2006 campaign in Lebanon, though no journalists were prosecuted.  The fact that Shahine and Sarhan’s sentencing came down in the same week that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in Iran has fueled suspicions that the pair’s imprisonment was actually motivated by Israeli-Iranian political tensions.

Reporters Without Borders condemned Israel’s imprisonment of the Palestinian journalists as inextricably tied to Ahmadinejad’s reelection.

“Journalists should not be hostages to geopolitical developments,” read a statement from the press freedom organization.

Fares Sarafandy, the Al-Alam bureau chief in Ramallah, said Shahine and Sarhan were just doing their jobs.

“They reported what they saw, namely that tanks were beginning to move,” said Sarafandy.  “They didn’t say the invasion had started.  At heart, this issue is about Israel and Iran.”

For more information, please see:

The National – Israel Jails Two TV Journalists – 18 June 2009

Reporters Without Borders – Palestinian Journalists Working for Iranian TV Station Get Two Months in Jail from Israeli Court – 16 June 2009

World Bulletin – Israel Jails Palestinian Journalists for Gaza Invasion Report – 16 June 2009

Ha’aretz – Two East Jerusalem Journalists Jailed for Reporting for Iran – 15 June 2009

Ma’an News Agency – Palestinian Journalists Jailed for Violating Censorship During Gaza Invasion – 14 June 2009

International Outcry Surrounding Deaths of Iranian Protesters

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – Human Rights Watch has called for the Iranian government to begin investigations into the deaths of as many as eight protesters, who were allegedly killed by police and pro-government militia.

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, a candidate in Iran’s presidential elections, gathered in Tehran on June 18.  The crowds continued their nearly week-long protests of the results of the June 12 presidential election, which Mousavi’s supporters contend was rigged and maintain that Mousavi was the real winner, rather than the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Mousavi also asked his supporters to march to commemorate the deaths of those killed in the protests this week, encouraging the supporters to wear black in mourning.

The crowds gathered in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Square despite an order against such rallies, issued by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader.  The crowds marched silently until they reached the Square, when shouts of “God is Great” began, echoing calls heard by crowds during Iran’s 1979 revolution.

Authorities have arrested those perceived as dissidents, as well as shutting down access to many websites, including BBC Farsi, Facebook, and pro-Mousavi sites, in attempts to stifle the protests.  Foreign journalists have been banned from Tehran’s streets, and most are now reporting from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Though details remain hazy, Mousavi’s supporters report that those killed were students attacked in dormitories by pro-government militia.  As in recent days, during the protest on the 18th, police remained on the sidelines.  There have been reports, however, of police violence against protesters after dark.

Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian authorities to ensure that all security forces follow the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials in policing the demonstrations.  Mousavi has continually asked his supporters to remain non-violent.  The Guardian Council has ordered a recount of approximately 600 ballot boxes, but future government action remains unclear.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Iran’s Mousavi Addresses Protesters – 18 June 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iran:  Investigate Protester Deaths – 18 June 2009

NPR – Opposition Protesters Fill Streets of Iran’s Capital – 18 June 2009

New York Times – Protesters Gather Again, as Iran Panel Offers Talks – 18 June 2009

Associated Press – Iranian Protester Killed After Opposition Rally – 15 June 2009

Despite Protests, Some Western Saharans Excited over Moroccan Poll Results

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

LAAYOUNE, Western Sahara - Some citizens of Western Sahara excitedly shared the news of Moroccan Poll results with their friends and relatives in refugee camps in Algeria, while many remained skeptical. Western Sahara’s sovereignty has been under dispute since Spain left the area in 1975 and Morocco annexed it.

Neighboring Algeria backed the Polisario Front, the independence movement in Western Sahara, in their fight for independence. A ceasefire has been in effect since 1991, but thousands of people remain in refugee camps and the resolution process is at a standstill.   No progress towards self-determination for Western Sahara has been made.

Before the elections the leaders of the Polisario had written to the United Nations asking them to put a stop to the illegitimate elections that were held in Western Sahara on June 11. Polisario envoy to Algeria, Brahim Ghali, said on June 12 that the “silence of the UN [would show] implicit complicity unacceptable to international logic.”

The elections were held, and now many Western Saharans, who are known as Saharwis, are hopeful about the results. The recently formed Authenticity and Modernity Party, or “PAM” won the majority of seats in Morocco’s local elections. PAM was formed in June 2008 by Fouad Ali el-Himma, who is a close friend of the Moroccan Monarch King Mohammed VI.

King Mohammed wants to change Morocco’s policies of repression and injustice, and to come to a peaceful compromise between Morocco and the Polisario. He hopes that his moderate message will convince the Saharwis that they do not need to be independent, because Morocco’s policies have changed.

Human rights groups agree that rights have improved since King Mohammed succeeded his father. However, these groups still accuse Moroccan police of beating citizens that speak out for Western Sahara’s independence, and occasionally torturing people in their custody. Pro-Polisario groups boycotted the elections and are skeptical of the PAM message of peace and compromise.

PAM won 6,015 seats, 21.7 per cent of the national vote, giving it a majority over the governing Istiqlal (Independence) party by 2.6 per cent, with 52.4 per cent of the registered voters voting. The elections were held across Morocco and the Western Sahara, as Morocco considers Western Sahara as part of their territory.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera- New Party Wins Morocco Local Polls- 14 June 2009

Magharebia- New Political Party Sweeps Local Elections in Morocco- 14 June 2009

Easy Bourse- Polisario Accuses Morocco of Provocation Over W Sahara Poll- 12 June 2009

Reuters -Morocco party woos Western Saharan Hearts and Minds- 11 June 2009