Contact: Leigh Anne Arnold, 703-499-2060

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Leadership Council for Human Rights condemns the lies of the Polisario about the health and well-being of Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud.

On 6 October 2010, the Polisario Front announced that Sidi Mouloud was to be released, and 7 October they and the Government of Algeria confirmed that he in fact had been released. 

On 8 October 2010, the Polisario Front representative in Washington confirmed to the US Department of State that he had in fact been released and was in Mheriz with his mother. 

Unfortunately, when his mother was contacted by representatives of the Leadership Council, his mother stated that she had not seen him and was not in contact with him.  She again stated this in a phone call on 10 October 2010. 

"Mouloud Said has lied," commented the Leadership Council's Founder and President, Kathryn Cameron Porter. "The Polisario representative here lied to the State Department, and his compatriots in Algiers have lied to human rights groups, to international organizations, and worse, to the family of Sidi Mouloud.  If they can lie about this poor man, what else are they lying about?"

Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud was illegally and unjustly detained by Algerian authorities on September 21 for exercising his right of free speech. 

The former head of the Polisario Front's police forces, Sidi Mouloud spoke out in favor of the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as a final resolution of the 35-year Western Sahara conflict and was thrown into an Algerian prison for doing so.

Prior to his detention, Sidi Mouloud was barred access to his family, including his newborn daughter, whom he still hasn't seen.