US embassy cable - 05RABAT2218

UNCLAS RABAT 002218 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE, SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D C O P Y  (ADDED CAPTION) 
 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PBTS, PHUM, PINR, MO 
SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA:  LETTER TO SECRETARY RICE FROM 
SAHRAWI DISSIDENT 
 
REF: RABAT 2098 AND PREVIOUS 
 
 1.  (U) This cable is sensitive but unclassified, protect 
accordingly. 
 
2.  (SBU)  The evening of October 25, emboffs met with 10 
Sahrawi dissidents in Laayoune, Western Sahara, as part of 
our regular reporting and fact-finding visits to the 
territory (details of the discussion to follow septel). 
During the meeting, former political prisoner Mohamed Dadach 
gave to Poloff the following letter addressed to Secretary 
Rice, written in Arabic. 
 
3.  (SBU) Begin informal embassy translation: 
 
Dear Madame Secretary, 
 
Due to the effective role that you have always played to 
provide just treatment for the victims and to stand with 
oppressed nations, I am pleased to write you this letter 
requesting your immediate intervention to save 37 Sahrawi 
political detainees whose health conditions are deteriorating 
and who have been subject to inhuman treatment by the prison 
headmasters and the civil servants.  On October 20, the 37 
Sahrawi political detainees decided to resume their 
open-ended hunger strike to denounce the continuous 
harassment that both the detainees and their families are 
subjected to.  It is worth noting that on September 29, 2005 
Sahrawi political detainees suspended a 52-day hunger strike. 
 
The Sahrawi political prisoners in the Black Prison (Embassy 
note:  The popular name for Laayoune Prison is a holdover 
from the days of Spanish rule in the Western Sahara, when the 
prison was known as "Casa Negre."  End Note.) started their 
unlimited hunger strike protesting the barbarous treatment 
they are subjected to by the prison administration.  They are 
put in cells where the simplest conditions of treatment are 
not provided; they are subjected to inhuman treatment by the 
prison headmasters and the civil servants; they are deprived 
of visits (from) their families and friends; they are 
deprived of their right to medical treatment and (are placed) 
in one cell; and those subjected to torture are left alone in 
cells. 
 
We call for the immediate release of the detainees, 
especially since most of them have not been accused (of a 
crime). 
 
Signed, Sidi Mohamed Dadach 
 
4.  (SBU)  Biographical Note:  Mohamed Dadach was imprisoned 
for his support of the independence of the Western Sahara for 
approximately 20 years.  He was pardoned by King Mohammed VI 
in 2000.  He received the Rafto Award from Norway in 2002. 
He is a well-known Sahrawi human rights activist.  End 
Biographical Note. 
 
RILEY