The mother of Sidi Mohamed Daddach, a Saharawi prisoner held in a Moroccan detention center, recently launched an appeal to the entire international community to help free her son. Her son, who is the longest held Saharawi prisoner in Morocco, was sentenced to death in 1976. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison. He has been serving this sentence since 1979 in Kénitra prison (Morocco), for having attempted to join the Polisario Front from the occupied territories.

Nguiya Bekay, Daddach's mother, fearing the worst, not being able to ever see her son again, is calling upon international organizations for human rights to exert their influence on Morocco to release "this prisoner who has become the symbol of the fight for freedom."

"From the bottom of the heart of a mother who is shedding tears, I ask all those who love justice to help free my son," begged this octogenarian mother whose hopes to see her child again grow dimmer with time.

Nguiya, who lives in exile, fled her territory [Western Sahara] in 1975 to escape the invading Moroccan tanks. She remains unshakeable in her principles. "I appeal that you ask the Moroccan authorities to remove their bloodied hands from our sons, to shed light on the disappeared Saharawis and to respect the will of our people," she stressed.

Daddach, the only Saharawi currently acknowledged by Morocco to be imprisoned and who has been adopted by Amnesty International, was detained in 1976 during an attempt to escape to the Saharawi refugee camps. During this attempt, he came under heavy fire from Moroccan troops, and his car was hit and caught fire. One of his friends died. There were ten others who succeeded in escaping and later joined the Polisario Front. Daddach was wounded and captured. He was later tried and condemned to death by a military tribunal in Rabat.

He is currently serving a life sentence in a prison cell of three-square meters. He suffers from several fractures of the scapula that have never been treated since being wounded in 1976.

Daddach continues to go on limited hunger strikes in an attempt to attract international public opinion to his fate and to the fate of a number of his countrymen who continue to be imprisoned in the crowded cells of Moroccan prisons in Marakech, Kénitra, Sough El Arboua, El Aaaiun, Inzegan, and others.