US embassy cable - 05RABAT2032

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RABAT 002032 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2009 
TAGS: MO, PBTS, PHUM, PREL 
SUBJECT: SAHRAWI PRISONERS:  THE MFA RESPONDS 
 
REF: RABAT 2015 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Pol/C Timothy Lenderking for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary and Comment:  On the evening of September 23, 
the MFA passed us the following document concerning the 
status of the Sahrawi prisoners discussed reftel.  The 
document is entitled "Elements of Information Relating to the 
Campaign Orchestrated by Algeria and the Polisario on the 
Conditions of Detention in the Prison of Laayoune."  It is 
the first official document we have received from the GOM 
concerning the prisoners and the first sign of tangible 
engagement by the MFA in the issue.  The document, 
unfortunately, offers only a modicum of factual information 
-- the kind of details the international community is seeking 
about the status of the prisoners and how the Moroccans would 
counter the charges being made -- before deteriorating into a 
diatribe against the Polisario and Algeria for whipping up a 
propaganda campaign against Morocco.  While we probably the 
first mission to receive this document, it was distributed to 
a dozen or so donor embassies at an MFA briefing on Western 
Sahara issues on September 26 (septel).  The version provided 
to the US, however, contains paragraphs with additional 
criticism of Algeria and the Polisario not found in the 
document provided to other embassies on September 26.  End 
Summary and Comment. 
 
2.  (SBU) Begin document (MFA translation): 
 
Similar to other penitentiary institutions of the Kingdom, 
the prison of Laayoune is indeed experiencing overpopulation 
due to the number of prisoners being presently held in 
detention which exceeds the normal capacity of the prison. 
 
This prison, designed for 400 detainees, actually houses 600 
prisoners as follows: 
 
-- 10 prisoners guilty of murder 
-- 80 prisoners guilty of theft; 
-- 30 prisoners guilty of rape; 
-- 190 prisoners guilty of drug trafficking; 
-- 80 prisoners guilty of complicity in illegal immigration; 
-- 190 prisoners detained for various offenses. 
 
To this figure we need to add the approximately 20 detainees 
being questioned following the events which took place in the 
city of Laayoune, namely for having perpetrated acts of 
violence and vandalism (throwing stones and Molotov cocktails 
at security forces, attacking police posts, burning the 
national flag, destroying public property, etc.) 
 
The following clarifications are appropriate in relation to 
the 37 prisoners whom the Polisario claims are political 
prisoners: 
 
-- 1 person is guilty of having caused the death of another 
with no relation to the events of Laayoune (Hassan Mekki), 
-- 1 person has already been released after having served his 
sentence (Mohamed Bahia Errachdi), 
-- 20 detainees have already been found guilty in relation to 
the incidents of Laayoune, 
-- 15 detainees have been referred to the examining 
magistrate. 
 
This situation, about which reports have been produced by 
national NGO's such as the Consultative Council of Human 
Rights (CCDH), the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) 
and the Moroccan Human Rights Organization (OMDH), (embassy 
comment:  CCDH is the only organization to date that has 
actually visited the prisoners since the hunger strikes 
began) has already been brought to the attention of the 
penitentiary administration, which has begun to take measures 
designed to improve the conditions of detention of prisoners, 
in conformity with generally observed norms and standards. 
 
Moreover, anxious to improve the conditions of detention in 
all the penitentiary establishments of the Kingdom, the 
Moroccan authorities have created relevant mechanisms, namely 
the Prison's Observatory and the Mohammed V Foundation for 
the Rehabilitation of Prisoners. 
 
The shameful use of the situation of the detainees for 
political ends is an exercise of pure propaganda orchestrated 
by the Polisario and its supporters in order to falsely 
inflame international public opinion by resorting to lies. 
 
Indeed, it has been duly established, on this day, that the 
photographs being circulated showing the conditions of 
detention in the prison of Laayoune -- the staging of a 
macabre scenario -- demonstrate nothing more than the 
perpetrators' minimal respect for humanity. 
 
Through this rude and false campaign, the Polisario is 
seeking to demonstrate that all the detainees in Laayoune are 
political prisoners.  This is, undoubtedly, a vile maneuver 
as proven by the abovementioned classification of prisoners 
according to the crimes committed, who all belong to the 
category of common law. 
 
The Kingdom of Morocco, as a responsible and peaceful State, 
has never circulated any propaganda - which is, beyond any 
doubt, a sordid tool of communication - and never intends to 
do so.  On the contrary, Morocco remains committed to 
pursuing the bold reforms undertaken in various fields, 
namely reinforcing the rule of law, and expanding individual 
and collective liberties.  (In the version provided to us on 
September 23, the sentence continues, "which bothers and 
destabilizes certain countries, in particular Algeria, due to 
the "domino effect" that such advances may trigger in 
neighboring countries). 
 
3.  (SBU) The following additional paragraphs were included 
in the document shared with the Embassy on September 23 but 
were not part of the draft shared with other embassies on 
September 26. 
 
US-only text continued: 
 
Likewise, the serenity demonstrated by Morocco in its 
management of the Sahara issue - namely by its continuously 
reiterated disposition to settle the issue in the framework 
of a consensual political solution - is countered by an 
Algerian intransigence that gains in intensity each time the 
direct responsibility of this country, concerning the 
continuation of this artificial conflict, is underlined. 
 
Observers will easily discern that the clear and unambiguous 
position of certain great powers regarding the Sahara 
conflict, a position which confers a bilateral character to 
this issue (Morocco/Algeria) today utterly disconcerts the 
Algerian authorities, who desperately seek to block this 
evolution by orchestrating untrue campaigns.  They create 
false problems in the hope of diverting the international 
community's attention. 
 
With the release of the 404 Moroccan prisoners, which was 
recently made possible by international pressure and namely 
by the direct intervention of the United States alongside 
Algerian authorities, Algeria hoped to rid itself of the 
responsibility relating to the atrocities committed on its 
soil.  It did not, however, take into account Morocco's 
determination to take all the necessary steps to make sure 
that these crimes of war do not go unpunished. 
 
In this sense, former prisoners of Tindouf have filed a case 
before the International Criminal Court against those 
responsible for human rights violations committed in these 
camps, among them high-ranking Algerian officials. 
 
Former Polisario members, as survivors of the Tindouf 
detention camps, are stepping up  awareness-raising campaigns 
and testimonies denouncing atrocities carried out on Algerian 
territory. 
 
This unanimously expressed determination further irritates 
and destabilizes the Algerian authorities, who attempt to 
create a diversion in order to mislead the international 
community and escape its obligations. 
 
One must recall that Algeria has no respect for human rights 
as is daily shown by the international Press and NGO's, which 
never cease to denounce the brutal methods used by the 
Algerian security services and demand the truth about the 
missing thousands, be they Algerian or Moroccan. 
 
Morocco cannot be lectured to by Algeria, let alone by the 
Polisario which is implicated in international terrorism, as 
is proven by its involvement in the theft of large quantities 
of dynamite from the Zouirate mines of Mauritania, in arms 
trafficking, in the attack on the Mauritania garrison of 
Lamgheiti, and in trafficking in illegal immigrants. 
End document. 
BUSH