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| Africa North |
| Morocco pardons W Sahara prisoners |
| 2006-04-24 |
| Morocco's King Mohammed has pardoned 48 Sahrawi prisoners as part of Rabat's drive to end a 30-year dispute between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front over Western Sahara. Morocco, claiming centuries-old rights over the territory rich in phosphates, fisheries and possibly offshore oil, annexed it after former colonial power Spain withdrew in 1975. The Polisario Front launched a low-level guerrilla war against Morocco's armed forces to back its claim for an independent state. The two sides have been observing a UN-sponsored ceasefire since 1991. "No single prisoner held because of the territory's dispute will be left behind bars. Forty-eight, all of what remained of the prisoners, were pardoned by the king," a senior government official said on Saturday. The pardoned detainees were jailed late last year for between 10 months and five years for anti-Moroccan riots in Laayoune, the main town in Western Sahara. They were sentenced for offences including sabotage of public property and using weapons against public officials. |
| Posted by:Fred |