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This News Service is posted by the
International Secretariat of Amnesty International,
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ
(Tel +44-71-413-5500, Fax +44-71-956-1157)
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WESTERN SAHARA: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL WELCOMES THE RELEASE OF
SIX PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE

Amnesty International welcomes the recent release of Kelthoum
Ahmed Labid El-Ouanat and five other Sahrawi prisoners of
conscience.

      They had been adopted as prisoners of conscience by
Amnesty International, and members of the organization around
the world had been campaigning for their release,
particularly in the last few months.

      Kelthoum Ahmed Labid El-Ouanat, a 24-year-old woman
from Smara in Western Sahara, and five other youths were
serving 20 year prison sentences imposed by the Moroccan
Military Court in July 1993.  They had been arrested between
October 1992 and May 1993, following
pro-independence demonstrations in Smara and other towns in
Western Sahara, and had been accused of threatening the
external security of the state.  After arrest they were
allegedly tortured during illegally prolonged incommunicado
detention and subjected to an unfair trial.

      ~The release of these prisoners of conscience is a
significant and encouraging measure for the improvement of
human rights in Western Sahara,~Amnesty International said
today.

      The organization hopes that other measures will be
taken by the Moroccan authorities to bring about further
improvements in the human rights situation in Western Sahara.Amnesty  
International~s outstanding concerns in Western
Sahara include the lack of information about hundreds of
people who ~disappeared~ after arrest since the 1970s and who
remain unaccounted for.
ENDS\
                                                fax.: 44 171
413 5815/5835

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