Following is a translation of the full text of the letter:
"Bir Lahlou, December 22, 2009
Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
Secretary-General of the United Nations,
New York
Mr. Secretary-General,
I urgently address you in this letter on a serious deterioration, threatening of dire consequences, concerning the health situation of human rights activist Degja Lashgar, in Sale prison, near the Moroccan capital, Rabat.
This Sahrawi political prisoner is suffering of very terrible conditions of detention, in solitary confinement, under siege and strict control, completely desolated from the outside world, deprived of the means of communication and information, and even her right to treatment and medical follow-up, not to mention the lack of food, based on what her family brings her during its limited visits.
The place of detention is more than 1200 kilometers away from her family residence in the city of Laayoune, in the occupied Western Sahara, allowed to visit her only once a week, for no more than a quarter of an hour, the meeting is for a very short time, through a double iron fence, preventing direct contact .
Ms. Degja is in a cell that lacks health conditions with low ventilation, high moisture, dirt and insects. She is allowed to leave to the public arena for only half an hour a day, under heavy guard and continues deliberate harassment by the guards and prisoners of public right.
It adds up to the fact that this Sahrawi human rights activist already suffering of numerous serious diseases, severe pain in the stomach and back, resulting from periods of enforced disappearance exceeded ten years, since Moroccan security forces kidnapped her on the same day, December 22, 1980 and held her in their secret detention centers, such as Agdez and Derb Moulay Cherif and M'gouna, where she was exposed to the worst forms of torture, intimidation and ill-treatment.
Detainee Degja also suffers of severe pain on the level of head, high pressure and her mental condition is serious, because of psychological pressure exerted on her as result of isolation and siege. The testimonies given by some members of her family warn of her steadily deteriorating physical and mental conditions, without any urgent action on the part of Moroccan authorities to save her.
Mr. Secretary-General,
As I mentioned in previous correspondence, this activist of human rights was abducted and detained, together with six of her comrades who live in similar conditions of detention, on October 8, 2009 from the airport of city of Casablanca in Morocco, where Moroccan authorities announced that they will be brought before a military court, simply because they visited their families in the Sahrawi refugee camps.
These dangerous practices reflect repressive and systematic trend, animated and framed by the address of the King of Morocco on November 6, towards Sahrawi citizens, students and human rights activists, defending the right of self-determination for the Saharawi people, as an international sacred right, guaranteed by the charters and resolutions of the United Nations.
This fierce crackdown was marked by the increasing arrests, unfair trials, confiscation of documents of a group of human rights activists and eventually the arbitrary expulsion and forced transportation of human rights activist Aminatou Haidar.
Despite her return to her homeland, two sons and family, manifestations of oppression and harassment are still dominant, as Aminatou Haidar lives in her home in the city of Laayoune, the capital of the occupied Western Sahara, in a situation like house arrest, under siege and prevented from meeting with the media, citizens and human rights activists.
Mr. Secretary-General,
In front of all these rapid developments, I reaffirm that the time has come for the United Nations to take urgent necessary action to ensure the security and safety of the Sahrawi citizens, through an appropriate mechanism for the protection of human rights in Western Sahara, control and report them.
I emphasize in this letter on the need to seek your urgent intervention with the Moroccan state in order to save the life of human rights activist Degja Lashgar, whose physical and mental health conditions have become in a serious state.
At the time I renew my call for the release of the group of seven activists and all Sahrawi political prisoners, lifting the siege on the house of Aminatou Haidar, I call for your urgent intervention, by all available means, including sending an independent medical mission to assess the situation of Degja Lashgar and making the necessary steps against this dire humanitarian situation, which may cause the loss of an innocent human being.
Please accept, Mr. Secretary-General, the highest esteem and respect,
Mohamed Abdel-Aziz,
Secretary-General of the Polisario Front " (SPS)
062/090/000 231615 DEC 09 SPS
