Journalist deported from Western Sahara
Norwegian freelance journalist Erik Hagen was arrested by Moroccan security police in Western Sahara's capital Laayoune, and deported to the neighbouring country, Mauritania. He thinks Moroccan intelligence in Norway has contributed information.
Hagen was in the Moroccan occupied area in order to interview human rights activist and former prisoners of conscience, among them Sidi Mohammed Daddach, who two years ago received the Rafto prize for his struggle for an independent Western Sahara.
«I was stopped on the street of policemen in plain clothes who asked if I was Mr. Erik, something I confirmed,» Hagen explained on the phone to the Norwegian news bureau (NTB) from Nouadhibou in northern Mauritania. «They said I was welcome to talk to the chief of police in town.»
«At the police station I was questioned regarding what I was doing in Western Sahara, who I had talked to, where I had been, what I had done in Norway earlier and what plans I had,» Hagen said.
The questioning lasted for hours, and the chief of police himself did the questioning. According to Hagen, he was accused of supporting the Polisario Front and its struggle of independence. «According to the police chief, I was not particularly welcome in Morocco because of the contacts I had in Western Sahara and the work I have done,» Hagen explained to NTB.
«I got a couple of hours to pack my backpack, and I was placed on the first bus out of town,» he explained. «The bus ride lasted for 26 hours and was 1,000 kilometers, and the entire way I was escorted by two policemen. First when I walked towards the Mauritanian boarder, I got my pass port back.»
During the questioning, it became obvious for the Norwegian freelance journalist that the Moroccan security service had detailed knowledge about him and his work, and he believes Moroccan intelligence in Norway has contributed with information.
«They knew what I had done, and what I was planning to do,» Hagen stated. «They knew who I was talking to, apparently after bugging the phones of the people I was going to meet.»
Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 when the former colony power Spain pulled out of the area 165,000 refugees have since then lived in camps refugee camps in Algeria.
Both the UN's General Assembly and the Security Council demand that Morocco pull out of Western Sahara. Both Polisario and Algeria have accepted the UN plan to have a referendum regarding Western Sahara's future, but Morocco has turned down the plan.
Via Nettavisen News in English.
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