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Aminatou Haidar
Born	(1966-07-24)July 24, 1966 see text
Citizenship	see text
Known for	political activist
Children	two

Aminatou Haidar (born July 24, 1966), sometimes known as Aminatu or Aminetu, is a Sahrawi human rights-defender and political activist. She is a leading activist for the independence of Western Sahara. She is sometimes called the "Saharawi Gandhi" for her nonviolent protests, including hunger strikes, in the support of the independence of Western Sahara.. She is the president of the Collective Of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA).

Biography

Aminatou was born in 1966 in Akka, Morocco. She lives in El Aaiún in Western Sahara, with two children (Muhammad and Hayat), is divorced, and holds a baccalaureate in modern literature. She recognizes herself as a supporter of Polisario.

Imprisonment

She was incarcerated in the Black Prison of El Aaiún on June 17, 2005, after having been arrested a hospital where she was receiving treatment for injuries inflicted by police during a demonstration during the Western Sahara Independence Intifada. Reportedly, she was tortured during interrogations. Amnesty International has expressed great concern about the situation of Sahrawi prisoners in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara, and specifically taken interest in the case of Aminatou Haidar, expressing fear that her right to a fair trial might not be respected, and stating that she may be a prisoner of conscience.

Trial and sentence, 2005

On December 14, 2005, Aminatou Haidar was sentenced to 7 months in prison by a Moroccan court in El-Aaiún. Amnesty, which had sent an observer to cover the trial, immediately issued sharp criticisms of the Moroccan government, and said it was strengthened in its belief that she may be a prisoner of conscience.

There is an international campaign for Aminatou Haidar's release which has been signed by 178 members of the European Parliament. The parliament also called for her immediate release in a resolution in October 2005.

Release from prison and Moroccan Compensation, 2006

On January 17, 2006, Aminatou Haidar was released after having spent seven months in jail. A demonstration received her, and she reportedly commented that "the joy is incomplete without the release of all Saharawi political prisoners, and without the liberation of all the territories of the homeland still under the occupation of the oppressor".

After this discharge, Aminatou Haidar was granted a compensation of 45000 euros from the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) established by Moroccan government in order to compensate the victims of arbitrary arrest.

2009 detention and deportation from El-Aaiún

In November 13, 2009, Aminatou Haidar was arrested on her return to El-Aaiún for allegedly refusing to enter "Morocco" in the "Country" box on her entry card, instead leaving the citizenship line blank on her customs form, and writing Western Sahara—the disputed territory where she lives—on the address line.

She later declared that she was not visiting Morocco but Western Sahara. She refuses to accept that Western Sahara is a part of Morocco. "They want to compel me to recognize that Western Sahara belongs to Morocco," she declared to journalists on November the 14th.

Haidar arrived at El-Aaiún airport from Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. She was with two Spanish journalists, Pedro Barbadillo and Pedro Guillén, who accompanied her with the intention of making a documentary about human rights abuses in Western Sahara. The two journalists were detained for trespassing and filming in the Layoune airport without previous authorisation. The Moroccan authorities claim that Haidar declared she was renouncing her Moroccan citizenship and that she voluntarily signed the renunciation documents, and surrendered her passport and national ID card. Following this alleged renunciation, she was deported, along with the two journalists that accompanied her, to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Barbadillo, who was with her when she completed the entry documents to travel to Western Sahara, claims that the version of the Moroccan government is false and declared he saw her completing the form himself. Documents that were retrieved and published in the Spanish newspaper "El Pais" show that the Moroccan government had made three different flight reservations for Haidar, showing that they had planned to expel her from the country days in advance of her actual arrival. Because they did not know with certainty when she would be arriving, they scheduled three different flights in her name, so they could deport her whenever she arrived.

Haidar finally arrived at El-Aaiún on 13 November. She was arrested and expelled from Morocco, her documents were taken and Morocco's official press says she renounced her nationality. According to El Pais, Haidar informed the pilot on her flight back to Spanish territory that she did not have documents to travel and was being held against her will. The pilot was doubtful, but finally took off after receiving a call. The party finally arrived at Lanzarote about noon on Saturday evening, and Haidar sought the urgent intervention of the United Nations Secretary General to "ensure personal protection" and declined to leave the departures terminal at Lanzarote airport, claiming that the Spanish authorities had kidnapped her by declining to allow her to board another international flight (to El-Aaiún) because she was unable to produce her passport. She was apparently entitled to travel within Spanish territory. Mohamed Salem, a delegate of the Frente Polisario in Canarias, claimed that she intended to remain at the terminal of Lanzarote airport, and engage in a hunger strike in protest against her kidnap by the Spanish authorities.

On November 17, while on hunger strike, she was told by the Spanish authorities to appear in court on public order charges.

A fine of 180 euros was imposed by Spanish court for public order disturbance.

Moroccan Delegation Visits Spain

Spanish newspaper El País reported that a Moroccan delegation led by the President of the Moroccan Senate, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, visited Spain in early December 2009. He insisted that the Sahrawi people are fully integrated into Moroccan society and occupy some of the highest offices in Moroccan institutions. He insisted that no country would accept the return of a person who had "thrown away their passport" and "has renounced their nationality".

Biadillah later met with Jorge Moragas, coordinator of the main opposition People's Party, which intends to bring an action against the (socialist led) Spanish Government, alleging it violated two articles of the law on foreigners by implicitly assisting Morocco to force Haidar to cross the Spanish border on 14 November in Lanzarote, which she did willingly.

Public Figures Show Support for Haidar

Ever since Haidar was deported, several actors, writers and famous personalities have shown support for her cause and have asked both the Moroccan and the Spanish government to solve the situation. Writer José Saramago, sent her a letter of support. Eduardo Galeano and Javier Bardem are among the personalities that have asked both governments to put an end to this situation whish they describe as an injustice. Bardem published an open letter in the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo" in which he expressed his "support and respect for the Human Rights campaigner and representative of the Sahrawi people." His letter criticizes the Spanish government. He has said that the Spanish government was blind Galeano has also shown his solidarity with Haidar. He has thanked her for her "bravery". He also said in his letter: "People like you help us confirm that a fight for another world is not and will never be a useless passion. Thank you very much. Lots of people love you, and I am one of them.".

USA Involvement

Ban Ki-moon and EU executives were seeking a means of applying some effective pressure on Morocco. The solution, according to some diplomatic sources, might be a U.S.A. intervention that goes beyond the statement it released on 26 November, in which the State Department expressed "concern" about the health of Haidar and called for respect of her rights. According to El País, the U.S. finally entered the crisis, triggered by the expulsion of Aminatou Haidar, by contributing more international pressure on the king of Morocco to allow the return of Sahrawi activist to the city where she lived with her family

U.S.A Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has called the Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri, accoding to diplomatic sources in Brussels. Spanish diplomats welcomed the move, but say it has not been made at their behest.

As of the 11 December 2009 Haidar entered her 25th day of hunger strike in the airport of Lanzarote and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos announced he is to make an ad-hoc trip to Washington on Monday 14th for talks with his counterpart. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri asking him to allow Aminatou to return to her home in El Aaiun.

Return Home

On Friday, December 18, 2009, following 32 days on hunger strike and a brief admission to the intensive care unit of Lanzarote hospital, the BBC reported Haidar had returned home following interventions by the U.S. and France. Upon her return, Haidar was placed under house arrest by Moroccan police.

Awards and Nominations

Haidar was awarded the 2006 Juan Maria Bandres Human Rights Award (from Spain) and the 2007 Silver Rose Award (from Austria) and has been nominated for the Sakharov Prize and the Ginetta Sagan Fund Award.

In February 2008, the American Friends Service Committee announced it had proposed Haidar to be a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, though she was not awarded the Peace Prize.

Haidar won the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. In addition to the prize (which includes money), the RFK Memorial Center offers to partner with recipients in their work.

Haidar was awarded the 2009 Civil Courage Prize on 20 October 2009 at an award ceremony in New York City.

See also

• Years of lead
• Ali Salem Tamek
• Mohamed Elmoutaoikil
• History of Western Sahara

References

Aminatou Haidar's Moroccan Passport

1. Sahara hunger strike
2. The Saharawi non-violent activist Aminetou Haidar, confined in the Lanzarote airport in Spain on hunger strike
3. http://www.hespress.com/_img/aminatoupasseport1525.jpg Copy of the moroccan Passeport of Aminatou Haidar as published in an intenet moroccan news paper
4. Morocco/Western Sahara: Sahrawi human rights defenders under attack, International Amnesty, 24 November 2005.
5. Morocco/Western Sahara: Human rights defenders jailed after questionable trial, Amnesty International, 15 December 2005
6. campaign Free Aminatou Haidar
7. Members of the European Parlament who support the International Campaign for the liberation of AMINATOU HAIDAR and of all Saharawi political prisoners.
8. European Parliament resolution on human rights in Western Sahara, 27 October 2005.
9. Aminatou Haidar is free after 7 month in the Black Prison
10. Saharawi political prisoner Aminatou Haidar released Today in El Aaiun, Sahara Press Service, January 17, 2006.
11. Aufait (Independant Moroccan Newspaper, French)
12. , El País, November 14, 2009.
13. , El Pais, November 14, 2009.
14. ^ , El Pais, November 26, 2009.
15. Partidos marroquíes condenan la "provocación" de la saharaui Aminatu Haidar, EFE, November 15, 2009.
16. La huelga de hambre de la saharaui Haidar pone en aprietos a Exteriores, El Pais, November 17, 2009.
17. Saharan activist 'facing court', BBC, November 17, 2009.
18. Elpais.com (Spanish)
19. , tomasvte.
20. ^ , El Mundo, November 24, 2009.
21. http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2009/12/11/breaking_news_morocco_blocks_ailing_western_saharan_human_rights_activist_aminatou_haidar_from_returning_home
22. "Western Sahara activist faces curbs". Al Jazeera English. 25 December 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
23. http://www.algerianamericans.com/news/147-aminatou-haidar-returns-to-her-country-western-sahara.html
24. http://www.unison.org.uk/file/WSC.pdf
25. AFSC Statement
26. Zunes, Stephen, Haidar's Struggle, Foreign Policy in Focus, October 7, 2008
27. http://www.civilcourageprize.org/honoree-2009.htm

External links

• Police report after she was expelled to Spain
• Testimony on her "disappearance" (1987-91) by Aminatou Haidar (2002)
• Aminatou Haidar Biography - Association de soutien à un Référendum libre et régulier au Sahara Occidental

• Sahrawi democracy activists
• 1967 births
• Living people