Madrid – On the occasion of the first anniversary of the forced removal of Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud, from the camps of Tindouf (south-western Algeria), several Spain-based NGOs and associations launched an international solidarity campaign with the Sahrawi militant with a view to raise the awareness of the international community over his ordeal and that of the population held against their will in the Tindouf camps.
In a meeting recently held in Madrid, a number of Spanish civil society associations made an appeal to the UN and International human rights organizations to intervene to put an end to the suffering of Mustapha Salma, who has been separated from reuniting with his family in the polisario-run Tindouf camps for having expressed his opinion in support of Moroccos autonomy initiative for the Sahara.
Mustapha Salma, a former polisario police official, was arrested on September 21, 2010, on his way to Tindouf camps after having visited his father in the southern city of Smara in Morocco’s southern provinces within the framework of the UNHCR led family visit programme.
In a press conference, on August 9, 2010 in Smara, he expressed support for Moroccos autonomy plan as a lasting settlement to the Sahra conflict, saying that he will return to explain the autonomy initiative in the polisario-run camps in Tindouf.
Afterwards, Mustapha Salma was kidnapped, secretly detained and tortured for 71 days by the polisario militias. His release came following an international campaign that laid bare the inhuman practices of the separatists.
In December 2010, Mustapha Salma was brought to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in Mauritania where he has been staging a sit-in to claim his right to reunite with his family.
