Aminatou Haidar in Portugal to raise awareness about human rights in Western Sahara
28/06/2007

Aminatou Haidar, eminent Saharawi human rights activist and ex-political prisoner has recently visited Portugal in a tour to raise awareness about the flagrant human rights violations committed by the Moroccan State in Western Sahara.


The Saharawi human rights activist visited Coimbra, where she participated in a debate organised by Amnesty International d’AVEIRO, Action Justice and Peace and Action for Social culture, with the participation of the municipal Council of the city.

In Porto, the Saharawi human rights’ leading figure animated a seminar hosted by the Member of Parliament of Portugal, Joa Texeira, in the presence of political personalities, representative of many NGOs and cultural associations.

The Saharawi activist gave a testimony about her personal experience as a political detainee and the atrocities he lived in Moroccan secret detention camps, and the current human rights situation in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

In Lisbonne, Aminattou Haidar was received by representatives of the different political parties in parliament, before she was asked to take part to a conference-debate in company of European Parliamentarian, Ana Gomes.

The conference was organised at the seat of the Association 25 April, was an opportunity for Mrs. Ana Gomes to call on the European Union for a more active and constructive role in pushing towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in Western Sahara that provides for the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination.

With regard to the press coverage, Portugal’s newspapers «El Publico» and «Diario de Noticias» published long interviews with the Saharawi human rights activist to talk about the different aspects of the Moroccan violations of Saharawi people’s right to freedom.

The «EXPRESSO», one of the main newspapers of Portugal consecrated many pages of its edition of June the 28th to the Saharawi struggle.

Aminatou Haidar is one of the leading figures of the Saharawi resistance in the territories of Western Sahara under Moroccan occupation.

As a young woman, she was arrested in 1987 by the Moroccan secret police and was victim to forced disappearance for 4 years. She was released in 1991 with a group of 300 Saharawis who were detained in Moroccan secret detention camps, some of whom for 16 to 18 years.

She started struggling as a human rights’ activist since her release with a group of other Saharawi ex-political prisoners and disappeareds, and underwent a set of harassment and acts of intimidation by the Moroccan police.

She was arrested again by the Moroccan colonial authorities in June 2005, because of her active role in reporting and opposing the Moroccan human rights violations in the territory.

In June 17th 2007 she was bashed by police in the street during her participation in a peaceful demonstration, and was arrested in hospital before she got the first medical care.

In company of more than 40 Saharawi political prisoners, she undertook a 50 days hunger strike to protest against the Moroccan authorities’ violation of her rights and the rights of her compatriots and to protest against the bad conditions of detention in the Moroccan notorious prison of Carcel Negra in El Aaiun.

She spent 8 months in prison, and was released by the Moroccan authorities because of an international campaign for her release and the release of her other comrades.

Aminatou Haidar started campaigning at an international level since 2006, and visited many countries to raise awareness about the Moroccan colonial practices in her countries.

She visited so far, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, South Africa, the USA and now Portugal. She returns after each visit to the occupied zone so as to prove to the Moroccan regime that she will never leave her land, and that she will come back there to continue the resistance.