Protests continue in Tindouf camps after Polisario arrests Spanish national

Protests in Tindouf camps continue as the family and friends of recently detained Spanish national, Mohamed Salem Souid continue to demand his release during a sit-in organized on Saturday, May 6th, in the “Rabouni camp.”

Sahrawis kept in the camps condemned the abuse suffered by the detainee’s sister. According to the Tindouf Support Forum for Autonomists (FORSATIN), the Polisario responded to the tribal protest by deploying elements of its military within the perimeter of its administrative offices.

Before being detained, Salem Souid visited his family in the Tindouf camps.

He took part in last week’s “Laayoune camp” rallies by young Sahrawis against fuel diversion operations carried out by influential Polisario leadership members towards the Mauritanian market.

The detention of Mohamed Salem Souid was officially reported to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday by the Sahrawi Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADEH). In a letter to the Spanish consul in Oran, the NGO requested that the inmate, who is of Spanish nationality, be protected.

According to the Spanish newspaper OK Diario, the kidnapping has served as a wake-up call to the Spanish government after Pedro Sánchez associated himself with Morocco and “turned his back on the Polisario led by Brahim Ghali.” Ghali secretly entered Spain in April 2021 to be treated for Covid, sparking a significant conflict with Morocco.

As Sahrawis continue to observe the lawlessness, corruption, and injustice committed by the leaders of the separatist movement, tensions continue to simmer in the Polisario’s camps in Algeria.

In protest of the widespread corruption, a tribe within the camps has taken up arms against the separatist front.

Eleven people were detained as a result of the Labehat tribe’s uprising, and accountability is still being sought.

The Forum for Supporting Autonomy Supporters (FORSATIN) reports that a group of young people called for an inclusive meeting of all Sahrawis in the Tindouf camps to discuss the Polisario’s corruption, which led to the arrests.

FORSATIN shared a picture of a young Sahrawi detained in the Tindouf camps, who was subjected to violence at the hands of the Front’s militias, subjected to beatings and abuse on his return home.