Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Obama adminstration express concern over hunger-striking Nobel Prize Nominee

Stefan Simanowitz | 29.11.2009 00:37

As the hunger strike of Western Saharan human rights activist enters its third week, the US State Department have issued a statement expressing concern for her well being and urging " a speedy determination of her legal status and full respect for due process and human rights.”

Holiday-makers arriving in Lanzarote airport look on with curiosity at the frail woman lying in a nest of blankets on the floor airport terminal. Few of them are aware that they are looking at the world-renowned human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amainatou Haidar, now in the third week of a hunger strike. Haidar, known has the "African Gandhi", was deported from her home in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara on 14th November after refusing to put down her nationality as Moroccan on the arrival form when returning from a trip abroad. The police interrogated her, confiscated her passport and expelled her to the Canary Islands where she has been on hunger strike in the airport ever since. She has declined an offer by Spain to grant her refugee status accusing the Spainish of complicity in her deportation arguing that she should not have been allowed to travel without a passport.

According to Dr Alberto Guzman, director of Lanzorote provincial health services who has been at her side, Haidar’s condition is now “critical”. She is unable to walk and her poor state of health has been exacerbated by a perforated ulcer and damage caused by a 45 day hunger strike she carried out some years ago.

Haidar’s deportation has been condemned by human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and on 27th November, US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly issued a statement stating that “[t]he United States remains concerned about the health and well-being of Sahrawi activist Aminatou Haidar, recipient of the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Train Foundation’s 2009 Civil Courage Prize. We urge a speedy determination of her legal status and full respect for due process and human rights.”

She has also had messages of supporter from around the world including from Nobel Literature Laureate Jose Saramago, Noble Peace Prize Laureate President Ramos-Horta and film director Pedro Almodovar. Actor Javier Bardem wrote to her saying "I’m sorry that because of work commitments overseas I cannot be there in Lanzarote by my thoughts are with you." Haidar has also had a number of high profile visitors, including Spanish actor Guilliamo Toledo who has slept beside her on the airport floor for the past ten days. A delegation from the Robert Kennedy Foundation arrived in the Canary Islands at the weekend and are scheduled to stay with Haidar for a number of days. Meanwhile, in occupied Western Sahara over 200 women have been on hunger strike in solidarity with Haidar for over a week.

Sounding weak but defiant, Haidar has vowed to continue her hunger strike and stated that her action should not be seen as an isolated act of defiance of a single indiviudal but part of the struggle of the entire Saharawi people. “It is true that this hunger strike is about the individual right of one person to return to her home and her family” she said, “But it also about the collective right denied to the Saharawi people to live freely in their native land.”

This lastest incident comes at a time of heightened tensions in the so-called occupied territories. Since the start of October, human rights groups in Western Sahara have documented a steep rise in instances of violence, arrest and torture of Saharawi activists, including the detention of seven prominent human rights defenders currently awaiting sentence from a military court in Rabat.

This escalation of repression and the expulsion of Aminatou Haidar follow the appointment of Christopher Ross as the new UN Special Envoy to Western Sahara and recent hopes that, with support from the Obama government, a breakthrough to the diplomatic stalemate might finally be found. Indeed some analysts believe that the crack-down is an attempt by the Moroccan authorities to scupper long awaited UN-sponsored negotiations before they even start and could backfire on Morocco. Indeed, by perpetrating violence and repression against the very people they have committed themselves to negotiate with, Morocco could be seen as not playing a straight bat and as a result come under greater international diplomatic and political pressure.

Moroccan claims of sovereignty over Western Sahara are not recognised by a single nation and have been dismissed by the International Court of Justice. Over 100 UN resolutions have been passed calling for a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people but these have been ignored. With President Obama committed to using negotiations to resolve the conflict in the Western Sahara, it is unlikely that any attempts to derail the talks by arresting human rights defenders and deporting human activists such as Ms Haidar, will be looked on kindly.

As she enters her third week of hunger strike, Aminatou Haidar, a small woman with an indomitable spirit, has drawn the world’s attention to the forgotten plight of her people. Having devoted over two decades of her life fighting for a peaceful end to Morocco’s 34 year unlawful occupation of Western Sahara, the 42 year-old mother-of-two is not afraid to die for her country. In 1987, she was "disappeared" and tortured for more than three years for her pro-independence activities and in 2005 she spent seven months in the so-called "black prison" of Laayoune. Now as her physical strength seeps away her supporters around the world can only watch on, hoping that enough international pressure can be brought to bear to persuade Morocco to allow Haidar to return to her home and children before it is too late.

Stefan Simanowitz
- Homepage: http://www.freesahara.ning.com

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech