The Sahrawi Poltical Prisoner, Yahya Mohamed Elhafed, Taken back to Ait Melloul Prison after Trial Delay

The Court of Appeal in Agadir, Morocco postponed the trial of 09 Sahrawi political prisoners on May 27, 2009 until June 24, 2009.
The excuse was that the Sahrawi rights defender, Yahya Mohamed Elhafed, who is still going on an unlimited hunger strike, could not be brought because of 'a slight health trouble'. Yahya, who was then in Hassan II hospital in Agadir, had already been put in the intensive care unit in order that the trial would be put off again.
The defence protested explaining the main reasons behind the delay, and stating that the Sahrawi rights defender, Yahya Mohamed Elhafed, could not be brought to trial because of his delicate health status due to the unlimited hunger strike, which already reached 53 days.
The defence lawyers also called for an urgent medical examination for Yahya and the other political prisoners, and an investigation into the allegations of their torture before having transported to Ait Melloul prison on April 07, 2009.
As soon as the trial was held up again, the political prisoners' families organised a sit-in in front of the Court of Appeal, protesting against the illtreatment that their sons have been enduring in both Ait Melloul and Inzegane prisons.
University students and human rights defenders from different Sahrawi and Moroccan human rights associations attended the trial.
Furthermore, a number of international observers were present such as: Michéle Decaster, the president of the Association of Friendship and Solidarity with African Peoples, AFASPA, and the Spanish lawyers, NIEVES CUBY ORMAS, Andrès M.MARTIN GARIA and Ana P . Pérèz Nordelo.

The CODESA,
El Aaiun, Western Sahara
May 27, 2009.