Founding Polisario Member and SADR Minister Dies of COVID-19 at 69

Sid Ahmed Al Batal was buried on Wednesday in the Tindouf region, reports EFE. Born in Tan-Tan, Morocco, 300 kilometers from Laâyoune, he was the first director of the military security of the Polisario Front and held various ministerial (Information, Education, Public Health and Equipment) and military positions, despite his blindness that occurred in the 1980s after a battle against Moroccan forces.

Al Batal "engaged in the struggle during the early preparations of the revolution against the colonial presence in Western Sahara and dedicated his life to achieving its objectives," said the SADR presidency in a press release. A week of national mourning has been decreed starting this Thursday, May 27, 2021.

This founding member of the Polisario Front had been accused in 2016 by the Spanish National Court of the crimes of genocide, murder, torture and disappearances committed in the Tindouf camps, after a complaint filed in 2012 by the Sahrawi Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADEDH). The complaint concerned 28 members of the Polisario Front, including its leader, Brahim Ghali, currently admitted to the hospital in Logroño, Spain, as well as senior officials of the Algerian government.