Paris (France), March 19, 2025 (SPS) – The Association of Friends of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (AARASD), an NGO supporting the Sahrawi people in France, will organize a march for the freedom of Sahrawi political prisoners.
In a public statement, AARASD announced that "next Sunday, March 30, 2025, at 10:00 a.m., we will depart from the town hall of Ivry-sur-Seine, and then at 3:00 p.m., from Vitry-sur-Seine, to travel through parts of France and Spain, where we will be welcomed by solidarity groups at each stage of our journey. Our destination will be Algeciras, after which we will continue to Morocco, where we plan to hold a sit-in in front of the Kenitra prison."
"Ivry and Kenitra are two cities, one in Val-de-Marne, France, and the other in Morocco, and they are the hometowns of French activist Claude Mangin-Asfari and her husband, Sahrawi political prisoner Naâma Asfari, who has held the title of 'honorary citizen' of Ivry since 2017, despite being imprisoned in Kenitra prison, Morocco, since 2010," the statement further said.
"This is why we are organizing a march that will extend from April to June 2025, during which we will meet with as many women and men of goodwill as possible to raise awareness about the Sahrawi cause and their history of struggle," added the AARASD statement.
The statement of the French solidarity NGO also emphasizes that "the march aims to secure the release of all Sahrawi activists imprisoned simply for demanding the exercise of their right to self-determination, recognized by the United Nations." It noted that "in 2023, the United Nations declared that the prisoners were being held arbitrarily, which means they should be released."
