Helsinki — The Communist Party of Finland has condemned the sentenced pronounced by Moroccan military court against 25 Saharawi political prisoners, demanding, in a statement on Friday, their immediate release.

"The Communist Party of Finland condemns this trial and demands immediate release of the group and all the Saharawi political prisoners. It calls on Morocco to put an end to the systematic violations of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. It therefore calls on the Finnish government to intervene in order to protect rights of the Saharawis and work on speed to conduct a referendum on self-determination on the basis of international legitimacy and UN resolutions," stated the statement.

The statement noted that Morocco "has no sovereignty over Western Sahara" since the military occupation in 1975, highlighting that its presence in the region as "an occupying power."

In the same context, the Party pointed out that the territory of Western Sahara remains under UN umbrella pending decolonization, thus the trial of the Saharawi, mainly human rights defenders, constitute a violation of international law. (SPS)