Brussels, 11/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a statement published on Thursday 10 December, the Swedish “Presidency of the European Union, with regard to the situation of Ms Aminetu Haidar, expresses its concern for her health and calls upon the Moroccan authorities to fulfil their international human rights obligations and to cooperate with the Spanish authorities so that a positive solution may be reached regarding her situation”. Aminetu Haidar is a Western Saharan activist who is on hunger strike in Spain, which is also concerned about her health.
Aminetu Haidar, a 42-year old Polisario activist, was arrested when she arrived by plane in Laayoune on 13 November, Western Sahara's main city, on a flight from the Canary Islands. The Moroccan government says she refused to fulfil the usual police formalities and denied being of Moroccan nationality. In October, Haidar was awarded a prize by the Train Foundation in New York for her non-violent human rights work. She was deported back to the Canary Islands the next day and has been on a hunger strike ever since to win the right to return to Morocco.
Morocco believes that the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that Morocco laid claim to in 1975, is part of Morocco. The Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, is a Western Sahara independence movement. Morocco is an EU partner in the EU's policy of cooperating with neighbouring countries and was granted the highly covetted “advanced status” last year in its partnership with the EU. (F.B./transl.fl)