AFP – 2 hrs 0 mins ago
A court in Western Sahara on Tuesday sentenced 11 people to jail terms over their involvement in clashes after a football game last month that left seven dead.
The convicts were given sentences ranging from 8 months to one year, Morocco’s MAP press agency reported.
The violence in which two policemen died broke out among rival team supporters after a match in Dakhla, a Western Sahara port city.
Reports indicated the clashes began with rival youth groups throwing stones and worsened when Sahrawi activists, who seek the independence of Western Sahara, became involved.
Western Sahara, which lies south of Morocco and was annexed and settled by Moroccan forces after Spanish settlers pulled out in 1975.
Morocco considers the Western Sahara an integral part of its territory, and has proposed a referendum on self-determination, but no sovereignty.
