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A Spanish judge has upheld genocide charges against 11 Moroccan ex-officials accused of killing and torture on Western Sahara.

The eleven ex-security officials and governors are accused of taking part in ethnically motivated torture, killings and detentions in the former Spanish colony between 1975 and 1991.

(news24) Morocco took control of most of Western Sahara in November 1975 after Spain withdrew and fought a 16-year conflict against the Sahrawi pro-independence Polisario Front

Judge Pablo Ruz called for the arrest and extradition of seven of the accused and asked the Moroccan courts to find and notify the other four.