WESTERN Saharan refugees urged the world to take action in support of Sultana Khaya today after her being held under house arrest for nearly a year by Moroccan occupying forces.

“Help us to speak for the silenced voices of the oppressed that call for justice and make known the noble struggles of these oppressed people,” a Saharawi youth department spokesman said.

“365 days and the siege continues,” a campaign statement said, saying that Ms Khayya is “a reflection of an entire oppressed people.”

“The candle does not only reflect hope, it also represents the life and the scream of the silenced ones,” it said.

Ms Khaya and her family have been under house arrest since November 2020 without any charges being brought against her.

Earlier this week she accused Moroccan intelligence services of raiding her home and sexually assaulting her 84-year old mother. She was injected with an unknown substance, it is alleged.

In May both Ms Khaya and her sister Luara claimed to have been raped.

The Saharawi Commission called for urgent international intervention to save the lives of her family from Moroccan forces.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975, but the majority of the population of the occupied territory have consistently been found to favour independence.

The International Court of Justice has rejected Morocco’s claim of precolonial historical sovereignty over Western Sahara.

In 1991, the UN brokered a ceasefire on the basis that Morocco would hold a referendum on independence.

But Morocco reneged on the agreement and its later promises, instead only offering regional autonomy to Africa’s last colony.