Yearly Archives: 2009

Dying for freedom – Nobel Prize nominee in grave danger

The hunger-strike of Nobel Prize nominee Aminatou Haidar has drawn the attention of the world to the plight of Western Sahara, but will the Moroccans cede to international pressure?
Reporter: Stefan Simanowitz
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.
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President and Nobel Laureate expresses solidarity with Aminatou Haidar

Noble Peace Prize Laureate and President Jose Ramos-Horta spoke by telephone on 27 November 2009 with the Saharawi human rights defender Aminatou Haidar.
The 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate made the following statement:
“I have expressed my profound solidarity and sympathy with Aminatou Haidar, the symbol of the struggle of the Saharawi people for self-determination and independence.

Read full statement from Jose Ramos Horta >>

Spain: Hunger-striking Nobel Prize nominee in “critical condition”

Thursday 26 November 2009 / by Shlomo van Loon
News today that hunger striking Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amainatou Haidar is in a critical condition has drawn concern from around the world including from actor Javier Bardem, film director Pedro Almodovar and Nobel Literature Laureate Jose Salamango. Dr Alberto Guzman, director of Lanzorote provincial health service who examined her today stated that her condition is now “critical”.

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Amesty calls for U.S. to pressure Morocco on human rights >>

Human Rights Watch call for Morocco to reverse expulsion >>

Message from Amainatou Haidar >>

Letter from Association of the Bar of the City of New York >>

When Is a documentary not a documentary?

Just How Far Has The Envelope Been Pushed?
OPINION, by Philippe Mora
The Business of Film, AFM Feature November 2009, p20
Over the last decade or so the art of Documentary storytelling, once confined to the intelligencia, has blossomed. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth thrust the genre firmly into the limelight of feature films as a highly regarded and permanent ‘must’ on any serious film aficionado diary. However a worrying trend has taken root in which the unprincipled of bending the truth has surfaced far more often than is good for the industry or the public at large….. The documentary Stolen, purportedly about Slaves (…cont.)

Read Philippe Mora’s article >>

23 October – Aminatou Haidar, Saharawi Human Rights Activist speaks at forum

THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN OCCUPIED WESTERN SAHARA
The Congressional Defense and Foreign Policy Forum was co-hosted by the Defense Forum Foundation and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights.
Transcript:
WELCOME: SUZANNE SCHOLTE, PRESIDENT, DFF
SPECIAL REMARKS: BOI-TIA STEVENS, ROBERT F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR JUSTICE& HUMAN RIGHTS
INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKER: JOHN TRAIN, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, CIVIL COURAGE PRIZE
SPEAKER: AMINATOU HAIDAR, SAHRAWI HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2009, 12:00 P.M.
B-339 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
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Cate Lewis, vice-president of AWSA, presents petition to the IVth UN Decolonization Committee

Cate Lewis, Vice President of Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA) has presented a petition to the IVth UN Special Political and Decolonization Committee from Western Sahara Resource Watch & on behalf of the  Australia Western Sahara Association. Read full petition>>

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New initiative – the Free Western Sahara Network

This excellent UK site, the Free Western Sahara Network, aims to bring together many different groups working for WS around the world.

The official launch of this new network took place on 12th June in the Houses of Parliament preceded by a delegation to 10 Downing Street led by MP’s, MEP’s, representatives of the Polisario Front, campaigners, and supported by High Commissioners and Ambassors from several nations. See The Guardian – Western Sahara’s lingering crisis – 12/6/09 and See USA Today – Delegation to Downing Street – 12/6/09