As campaigners for justice in Western Sahara world were preparing to mark the 26th International Day of the Disappeared on 30th August they received news that a 19 year old peace activist, Ms Hawassi Ngiya, had been abducted by Moroccan police.
Ms Ngiya, one of six Saharawi students arrested and beaten after protesting the refusal of Moroccan authorities to allow them to travel to England for a peace workshop on 5th August, had been released following the intervention of human rights groups including Amnesty International but concerns for the student’s safety had remained. These fears proved well founded when, on the evening of Thurdsay 27th, Ms Ngiya was picked up by police in El Aaiun. According to her testimony she was blindfolded, beaten, stripped naked and threatened with rape. After a five-hour torture, the police threw her out of their car naked and shaken on the outskirts of town.
The conflict in Western Sahara is one of the longest running and most forgotten in the world.
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