Moroccan Occupation Blocks Entry of Three European PMs to Occupied Sahrawi City of Laayoune
Moroccan authorities have prevented three members of the European Parliament from entering the occupied city of Laayoune after they arrived from the Spanish Canary Islands on Thursday. This incident is part of a broader blockade aimed at obstructing the documentation of human rights abuses and crimes occurring in the region.
Upon their arrival at Laayoune Airport in Western Sahara, the Moroccan forces expelled the three Euro-deputies, prohibiting them from carrying out an inspection visit to the area. The delegation included Isabel Serra Sanchez from the Podemos party in Spain, Teusi Saramo from Finland’s Vasemisto party, and Catarina Martins from Portugal’s Bloco de Esquerda party. They had been invited by the Sahrawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) to visit the occupied city of Laayoune.
According to statements from the delegation, Moroccan authorities barred them from disembarking from the plane under the pretext that they lacked authorization to enter the city. “Our unlawful detention prevents us from fulfilling our responsibilities as Euro-deputies,” they expressed, adding, “We came to monitor the implementation of the European court ruling that annulled the agricultural and fishing agreements between the European Union and Morocco, which exploits the resources of the Sahrawi people.”
On January 28, 2025, Moroccan authorities similarly denied Basque parliamentarians access to Western Sahara, where they intended to assess the human rights situation in the occupied territories. The Spanish political party SUMAR called on its government to demand an explanation from Morocco regarding the obstruction faced by the Basque parliamentary delegation seeking entry into Laayoune, calling the Moroccan action “extremely dangerous,” especially given that it was an official visit for which the ministry had been informed in advance.
According to a joint statement from the League for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons and the French Association for Friendship and Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, since 2014, Moroccan authorities have expelled and barred over 311 foreigners from 28 countries from entering the occupied Sahrawi territories, preventing them from documenting human rights violations. Since the beginning of this year, the Moroccan occupation has prohibited 10 foreigners, including three parliamentarians from the Basque Country, from entering Western Sahara.
