A Sahrawi civil rights activist flies back to El Aaiún (Western Sahara) after 32 days of hunger strike in Spain

Thursday 14 January 10

Aminatou Haidar, mother of two small children, has finished her hunger strike in Lanzarote airport after 32 days.  Haidar, a life long human rights activist for the Sahrawi people,  was thrown out of Morocco controlled Western Sahara by the authorities because she filled out her boarding card, (on her return from picking up a human rights award in the US), with the words “Western Sahara” instead of Morocco.  The Morrocan authorities said she had thereby waived her Morrocan citizenship and so confiscated her passport, and dumped her on a flight without any papers to Lanzarote, Spain, against her will. This was a breech of Article 12 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights which states “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of right to enter his own country”. After several days of negotiations, where Spain, France, USA and Morocco were involved, she was eventually able to return back home yesterday at 10.30 pm.

Aminatou Haidar is a leading activist for independence of the Western Sahara (from Morocco).  Born in 1967, she was “disappeared” by Moroccan authorities for her activism at age twenty, only to reemerge three years later.  In 2005, Haidar was arrested for her participation in a protest and sentenced to seven months in prison for “inciting violent protest activities.”  Amnesty International deemed her a prisoner of conscience, questioning the fairness of her trial and those of 6 others.  Since her release, she has been honored with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and most recently awarded the Civil Courage Prize in New York, all for her work defending human rights in the Western Sahara. You can watch Democracy Now!’s coverage of Haidar’s plight here.

At the heart of this dispute is Morocco’s refusal to allow the Sahrawi people the right to a referendum on self determination following Spain giving up its colony in 1975.   The United Nations, and the International community, do not recognise legal Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara,  but at the same time they keep silent while hundreds of thousands of Sahrawis still languish in desert refugee camps for now over 34 years.  In recent weeks Moroccan oppression against human rights activists has increased following King Mohammed VI ‘s George Bush like speech when he said “…..either a person is a Moroccan or is not……..One is either a patriot or a traitor.  There is no half way house……”  Haidar, and her arrested colleagues inside Morocco controlled Western Sahara are supporters of a non violent solution to this long standing problem.  They argue that it is about time the International community, and especially Spain, whose silence over the years has been shameful, put pressure on Morocco to allow a fair and free democratic referendum, or once again must we see how ‘mineral rights’ (massive phosphate deposits) and economic interests take precedence over human rights.

From a personal perspective, as a Spanish citizen I’m quite ashamed my government hasn’t put more pressure on the Moroccan government and, mostly, that year after year we, Spanish, have forgotten this former Spanish Colony and haven’t done anything to help them achieve a stable situation. This woman has risked her life because of something she deems completely unfair…what can we learn from this?

José Alvarez Gómez