Washington D.C.(March 25)… Human rights activists from the United States demonstrated at the Moroccan Embassy today to call for the release of the “Sahrawi Six”, six Sahrawi human rights defenders currently facing a Moroccan military court because they visited their family members in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria.
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On October 8, 2009, seven Saharawis were detained by Moroccan security forces at the Mohamed V airport in Casablanca upon returning from the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, where they were visiting family and friends. The seven were accused of high treason against Morocco. They are protesting against the extension of their period of detention without trial by a further 2 months. By then they will have been held   without charge for over 6 months. A Spanish law professor says this is   not acceptable in any legal system except Guantanamo.

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By Sam Bagnall
BBC News, Laayoune
A human rights campaigner from the disputed territory of Western Sahara says he was beaten by Moroccan police after giving an interview to the BBC.
Rachid Sghir and his colleagues were aware of the risks they ran by being interviewed for our TV documentary series Tropic of Cancer.

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TOMÁS BÁRBULO reports  22 December 2009   El Pais – English Edition
Aminatou Haidar’s return to Laâyoune has sparked violence and recrimination
“This neighborhood is closed,” said the policeman. The plain-clothes officer, with dozens of colleagues both in uniform and out, was stationed at the entrance to Bir Jedid street, the home of Aminatou Haidar. At 10am last Saturday, the policemen blocked the passage of Domingo de Guzmán, Haidar’s doctor. An argument ensued, during which Haidar herself appeared, supported by her daughter, Hayat, and another family member.
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18 December 2009
Agence France Presse
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009 All reproduction and presentation rights reserved.

Western Sahara independence activist Aminatou Haidar headed back to the disputed Moroccan territory overnight Thursday, declaring triumph after a long hunger strike to protest being exiled.

Haidar was released from hospital in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, and immediately headed to the airport where she boarded a plane heading for the Western Sahara.
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As the world’s diplomats duel over her destiny, Aminatou Haidar, on the 29th day of her hunger strike, could be hours from death
* Brian Eno and Stefan Simanowitz
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 December 2009 18.10 GMT

Anyone who has seen Hunger, Steve McQueen’s harrowing film about the Maze prison hunger strike, will have some idea of just how horrific it is to die by starvation. Bobby Sands, a fit 27-year-old man, survived 66 days without food. Aminatou Haidar, a delicate 42-year-old, is on the 29th day of her hunger strike; with a perforated ulcer and a constitution weakened by years of imprisonment and torture, there are fears that she will not survive much longer.

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MEDIA RELEASE A statement from the Melbourne Centre of International PEN
15 December 2009

The Melbourne Centre of International PEN is alarmed at the predicament of Aminatou Haidar, Saharawi Human Rights advocate. Haidar is in the fifth week of a hunger strike in Lanzarote Airport in the Canary Islands. She was returning to her home and family in El Aaiun, the main city of West Sahara, when arrested by the Moroccan authorities. Haidar had travelled to New York to receive the Civil Courage award, for her   tireless advocacy as president of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA).
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Dear Friends
VIGIL TO SUPPORT THE RETURN OF AMINATOU HAIDAR TO HER HOMELAND
AMINATOU HAS BEEN ON HUNGER STRIKE FOR OVER A MONTH

PLEASE JOIN US TO SHOW SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY

Thursday 17 December 2009, (6pm-7pm)

Sydney Town Hall Venue
483 George Street, Sydney 2000

More information at http://www.awsa.digipipes.com.au
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Sharan Burrow, ACTU President, has written on behalf of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to ask for UN intervention on behalf of the Saharawi Human Rights activist Ms. Aminatou Haidar.
ACTU letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights >>

Hunger strike activist seeks return to Western Sahara
By Al Goodman, Madrid Bureau Chief
10 December 2009. Madrid, Spain (CNN) — An award-winning Western Sahara independence activist on the 25th day of her hunger strike at a Spanish airport said Thursday she wants to return home to live with her family, “but in dignity.
Report from CNN news conference report >>