Case History: Aminatou Haidar

On 1 November 2012, human rights defender Ms Aminatou Haidar was physically and verbally attacked and threatened with a knife by Moroccan police in El Ayoun in a four hour long assault that left her car damaged. At the time of the assault, the human rights defender was on her way home after a meeting with the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Western Sahara, Christopher Ross. She was accompanied by her sister and daughter, who were trapped inside the car whilst police officers reportedly threw rocks at the windows. Aminatou Haidar was threatened with a knife, shoved to the ground and beaten. It is also reported that access to Aminatou Haidar's house was blocked between 5.30 pm and 1 am on the day of the attack. She is currently suffering from physical pain due to the attack, especially pain in her back, ribs and stomach.

On her return to her home in Western Sahara after 34 days on hunger strike Aminatou Haidar issued the following letter of thanks to Front Line and the many international organisations and individuals who had supported her cause. "The battle has finally ended as we hoped it to end, and the triumphal ship of solidarity has anchored alongside the Saharawi homeland". Text of letter of thanks from Aminatou Haidar During this journey, Aminatou was just a weak person calling for help,a victim who was stricken by betraying hands that implemented unjust decisions to throw her into the heart of the unknown, making of her a victim in an agitated ocean of ingratitude, traps and conspiracy, or to be more specific, a space where human feelings are blatantly trampled. A woman like myself, who is exhausted from the terrible sufferings in the Moroccan secret detention camps and from the sadism and cowardice of the torturers, had no other option but to gather what is left of her strength to say no. No to the persistence of repression against innocent people; No to the attacks against the Saharawi human rights defenders; No to their judgment charged with falsified accusation of intelligence by a Moroccan military court and their incarceration in a depressing isolation; No to the abandonment of Saharawi prisoners of conscience who are dying in silence in the Moroccan prisons because of dangerous and chronic diseases; No to more than 30 years of tragedy that turned the dreams of my people to nightmares separated by the Diaspora and the fate of hundreds of victims of disappearance. It is true that the expression of my aching body may have reflected concerns, but it is my very love of life, while the plane was landing in the airport of Lanzarote, that pushed me to go for the path of dignity and firmness in my decision, out of faithfulness to all those who still remember moments we shared under torture, in prison cells or before courts, moments that overflow with the noble values of humanity that implanted in our hearts values of generosity, fellow-feeling and selflessness. It is these same moments, when I declared my decision to start the open hunger strike in the airport and when the platform for the support of Aminatou Haidar was formed to back my battle to return home, it is these same moments that repeat themselves with memories full of new meanings that affirm that no boundaries can stop the flood of noble and beautiful human feelings coming from all countries, crossing continents to honour Aminatou as a human being, to honour her motherhood and to honour in her the values and principles of the Saharawi people. O! how powerful were those moments with all their strong symbolism, how warm they were, like the warmth of the affection of motherhood and fondness of the homeland, moments that express the most beautiful meanings life can have. You gave me the means to resist, you who backed me in my refuge and embraced me in my ordeal, and you strengthened my hope to survive it. You never let me feel I was fighting alone and you opened before my eyes new horizons towards a vision of the values of humanity that transcends all forms of seclusion and fanaticism, a vision that doesn’t recognise the relevance of individuality unless it enriches the heritage of humanity, because cultures and religions with all their diversity can be used to serve tolerance, friendliness and coexistence between peoples. Anyone who followed the wide international mobilisation that you initiated and maintained at a steady pace to support my unconditional return to my homeland, Western Sahara, will find out that the international response gives a proof, again, that the peoples who believe in the human being and who respect the values of justice and human rights are able to impose and implement their choices. I would like to seize the opportunity of the New Year, 2010, to wish you success, health and peace. And I name, all the members of the Platform; Robert Kennedy Foundation; the associations of support to the Saharawi people in Europe, in the US, in Africa, in Australia, in Latin America and in Asia; The Nobel Prize Laureates; the lawyers, doctors, artists, actors, filmmakers, writers, professors and university students; international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Front Line; International bodies such as the United Nations, the UN High Commission for Human Rights, the UN High Commission for Refugees, the European Parliament, the Spanish Parliament, the Portuguese Parliament; Women’s movements, trade unions, political parties, municipalities from Spain, Italy and elsewhere, Spanish and Algerian media and all free media world-wide that helped open a window of light in the darkness of the Moroccan propaganda; and to all the Saharawi communities especially in Lanzarote and the Spanish people of Lanzarote. To all these and to all those whom I may have forgotten to mention and I apologise, I send my congratulations for our collective success in this battle and for my triumphal return. I send to all of you thanks and gratitude in my name and on behalf of the Saharawi people who are now proud of the extension of the circle of their supporters and who hope that more pressure will be exercised on Morocco to release the 7 Saharawi activists imprisoned in the prison of Sale and all the Saharawi prisoners of conscience in the rest of the Moroccan prisons, and to find the truth about the fate of the victims of disappearance while waiting for the fulfilment of their demand to exercise their right to self-determination via a free, just and regular referendum. Finally, I wish from all my heart that 2010 will be a year of peace, respect of human values and victory for international legality." Aminatou Haidar, Saharawi human rights defender

On 07 December the children of Aminatou Haidar, who is continuing her hunger strike to demand her right to return to Western Sahara, launched an appeal calling for the support of other mothers and children around the world. "My name is Hayat El Kassimi and I am the daughter of Aminatou Haidar and I am 15 years old. In my own name and in the name of my brother Med El Kassimi who is 13 years old, I am appealing to all the other children of the world to support us at this time. At the same time I am appealing to all the mothers in the world to help our mother who is separated from her two children and who has been on hunger strike for the last 22 days, so that she can come back to live with us in peace and quiet. It was sad for us to hear the bad news today that our beloved mother has taken the decision not to take her medication, which is dangerous for her. Help our mother. Help avoid a tragedy which risks having such a negative impact on our physical and mental well being. We want our mother back home!" (Hayat El Kassimi (15yrs) Med El Kassimi(13yrs)

On 13 November 2009, at 12.30 pm, human rights defender Ms Aminatou Haidar was arbitrarily arrested by the Moroccan security at El Ayoun airport in Western Sahara just after getting off the plane coming from Las Palmas airport, Canary Islands. According to her family members who were waiting for her outside the airport for about an hour after the plane had landed, the building was surrounded by police and intelligence agents. They were prevented from meeting or seeing her, and they were not informed of her whereabouts. Front Line is concerned that Ms Aminatou Haidar is being detained for defending human rights, in particular for her human rights work in Moroccan-administered Western Sahara.