Spain seeks 'reasonable solution' in Haidar hunger strike

Moroccan human rights activist Aminatou Haidar is continuing her hunger strike after being deported to Spain's Canary Islands.

By Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 08/12/09

The hunger strike of Moroccan human rights activist Aminatou Haidar is causing friction between her home country and Spain, while also spilling over into the Western Sahara issue.

Haidar has been holed up in the airport of Lanzarote, part of Spain's Canary Islands, ever since November 14th, when Moroccan authorities stripped her of her passport and deported her. The 42-year-old's ostensible offense was to write "Western Sahara" in the nationality box of the entry form at Laayoune airport in southern Morocco.

However, Haidar is dogged by the accusation that she is acting on behalf of the separatist Polisario Front, a charge repeated by Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri on Monday (December 7th), as reported by the BBC.

Spanish Prime Minister Luis Zapatero told reporters on December 6th that his country was facing difficulties with Morocco in connection with Haidar's case, adding "We hope that we can reach a reasonable solution." Spain's foreign minister on December 3rd asked Morocco to give Haidar a passport so that she could travel.

Haidar, who has won awards for her peace activism, began consuming only sugared water on November 16th and says she simply wants to return home. On November 20th, she turned down an offer of asylum from Spanish authorities.

The mother of two plans to continue the hunger strike "until there is a solution", she told AFP on Monday. "If I die, the Spanish government will have to take the legal and moral consequences."

Haidar "has to bear the consequences of her actions; she has renounced and willingly signed away her Moroccan citizenship", Foreign Minister Fassi-Fihri said in a press statement released on December 2nd. "In no way can we allow the Moroccan passport to be a subject of insult or ridicule."

"Haidar, who has benefited from her national passport for years, has willingly decided to return her Moroccan passport and national identity card," he continued, adding that returning the activist to her point of embarkation, the Canary Islands, complied with international laws and standards.

Mohamed Khaddad, Polisario Front member and Sahrawi representative to the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, on December 5th told Spanish reporters that Aminatou's situation indicated "strictness" and "harshness" on the part of Morocco.

"Last Friday, Moroccan authorities refused to allow the landing of the Spanish plane carrying Haidar and an accompanying delegation in the city of Laayoune ... despite having first given their approval in coordination with the Spanish foreign minister," added Khaddad.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on November 24th expressed concern over what he called rising tension in the Sahara region caused by the arrest of some activists, as well as Haidar's situation.

In a speech delivered November 6th, Moroccan King Mohammed VI said "[T]here is no more room for ambiguity or deception; a citizen is either a Moroccan or a non-Moroccan".

"The time of two-faced attitudes and evasion of duty is over," added the monarch. "[A] person is either a patriot or a traitor, as there is no intermediate place between patriotism and treason. There is no room for enjoying the rights of citizenship, and at the same time denouncing it in conspiracy with the enemies of our country."