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 >>

A report about the conditions of detention of the one woman member of the group of 7 held in Sale prison near Rabat, Edehja Lachgar is attached. It provides a circumstantial account of what it’s like inside prisons and for the families trying to visit.
Report >>

9 December 2009 Agence France Presse
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday called for Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar, who is on a three-week-old hunger strike at a Spanish airport, to be allowed to go home.
Haidar has consumed only sugared water since November 16….
Read UN statement >>

The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID)  is an independent national association of Australian non-government organisations (NGOs) working in the field of international aid and development. ACFID’s membership is composed of 75 NGOs.

ACFID made on 8 December 2009 the following statement in support of Aminatou Haidar:
“The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) joins many
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Note: The letter needs to go tomorrow, 10 Dec, international human rights day.

Email the attached letter to the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Mrs Navanethem Pillay, tomorrow. Contact details:

United Nations High Commissionioner for Human Rights:
Mrs Navanethem Pillay
address: Palais Wilson, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
tel: (41 22) 917 31 34
fax: (41 22) 917 90 50
email: [email protected]

Attachment: Letter to UN Human Rights High Commissioner

Scottish writer Paul Laverty and British director Ken Loach issued a joint statement on December 1st (commemorating the anniversary of Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her bus seat for a white passenger) in support of Western Saharan human rights activist Aminatou Haidar.  Haidar is in the third week of a hunger strike after being deported against her will by Moroccan authorities occupying her homeland.  You can watch Democracy Now!’s coverage of Haidar’s plight here.

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Stephen Zunes | December 2, 2009
Editor: John Feffer,  Foreign Policy In Focus
The annual Robert F. Kennedy Award ceremony took place at the White House this year for the first time in its 28-year history. Also for the first time, the president of the United States was there to honor the awardees.

Read article by Stephen Zunes >>