Mine victims, by Nick Jubber

In a flaky pink apartment block in the Nahader district, a girl with henna on her hands pulled back the metal door and ushered me up the stairs. In a large room fringed with cushions, I sat on the woollen rug of a guest room while Mohammed Ali, director of the local mine victims’ association, prepared tea on a coal stove. I had come to listen to Ahmed, a student in his early twenties who was involved in a landmine accident a couple of years ago.

  ‘I was visiting my friend in an area south-east of Laayoune, about three hundred kilometres south,’ said Ahmed. He was an angular young man in his early twenties, his square-cut face softened by his glasses. ‘I was in the Land Rover with my friend’s father, Mohammed Nadher. He kept camels and around three hundred goats and we were driving between his tent and the field where he kept his goats when the back wheels went over an anti-charge. I remember running – about fifty metres away – I just ran – it was only when I was away from the explosion that I understood what had happened. My friend’s father was lying on the ground near the car. I pulled him away but the explosion had torn his feet open so he couldn’t walk. His sons heard the explosion and they came to find us, followed by the police who took us to Mohammed’s tent.’

  An ambulance came, much later, carrying Ahmed and Mohammed to the military hospital in Laayoune.

  ‘But,’ he explained, ‘they only looked at our injuries. I was burned all the way up my leg. They refused to do anything for us, so we were taken to another hospital, and by this time it was too late to save Mohammed’s foot so his toe had to be amputated.’

  It was only after several months of recovery that Mohammed went back to his flock; but now, unsteady on his feet, he was unable to herd them as well as in the past, so he sold up and moved to Laayoune.

  ‘What about you?’ I asked. ‘Did you have any after-effects?’

  ‘I hear a buzzing in my ears sometimes,’ he said, ‘but I am strong, I’m not afraid.’

  For Mohammed Ali, it was clear who was to blame.

  ‘The Moroccan government,’ he said, ‘doesn’t even publicise the mine situation – there are no posters about it, they never mention it on TV or radio, so people aren’t educated about it. Especially people who live in the desert – they need to know about the mines but many of them don’t even know what a mine looks like.’

Saharawi landmine victim (in the camps).
Photo by Bernat Millet

  Mohammed and Ahmed talked angrily of the Moroccan government’s failure to sign the Ottawa accord guaranteeing reparations to victims, or to make substantial efforts to map the mined areas.

  ‘It’s not only Morocco who planted the mines,’ said Mohammed, ‘Mauretania, Spain and the Polisario have all been responsible, but it is Morocco that has the authority here and they do nothing to help us. We’re Saharawi – we love the desert, it’s part of us. I like to spend my time in the city but also in the desert. But we have to be so careful when we go into the desert because of the mines.’

  ‘Without the desert,’ said Ahmed, ‘we are like fish out of water. But how can we use the desert when we are afraid we may step on a mine?’

Exodus, by Nick Jubber

If there was one subject all the Saharawis I met in Laayoune wanted to talk about, it was Gudaym Izik (Gdeim Izik) – the protest camp set up in November 2010.

  ‘I was in the first group,’ explained Ali Salem, a veteran activist in his forties. ‘We went to an area called Gudaym Izik (Gdeim Izik), twelve kilometres to the east of the city, and set up a camp. At first there were thirty-five tents, but over the days it grew. People came out from Laayoune to join us and we had 20,000 by the peak in 6,600 tents. We called it our ‘Exodus’ camp, it was a protest against the social marginalisation and the lack of decent jobs, decent housing, legal rights. But it became something more than that – people came to the camp to go back to their roots, back to what being a Saharawi is about. We wanted to show the world we can live on our own, we can live away from civilisation, we belong to the desert.

Gdeim Izik protest camp on Nov 5, 2010.
Photo by Tenerife con el Sáhara

  ‘Many young people joined the camps – people who had been irresponsible in the town, they just hung about doing nothing with their lives, but in the camp they were transformed. They set up committees for nutrition, hygiene, security, administration. They helped organise the food. Going back to their roots brought something out of them. There was no crime, no complaining. People lived in the tents together. As long as you were Saharawi you didn’t care if you weren’t related.’

  ‘It was like a utopia,’ said his friend Mohammed. ‘Rich and poor joined in, people from different cities, young and old.’

  ‘They tried to do the same in other cities,’ said Ali, ‘in Dakhla, Smara, Goulmime, but the police arrested them, harassed them, took them to prison. But Moroccans who were living here, and also some Saharawi bloodsuckers who’ve benefitted from the system, were anxious. They saw a young generation who wouldn’t let them carry on benefitting from our resources. So one morning at 5 am the people in the camp were woken by the sound of helicopters and voices telling them in Hassaniya: ‘You can go home now, your complaints are being answered.’ Then the forces moved in, they burned the tents and destroyed equipment, people started panicking. They chased people, beat them up, especially the young ones. Or they told them, ‘come in the van, we’ll take you back to Laayoune’ – and instead they took them to prison.’

Destruction of the protest camp by Moroccan authorities
on Nov 17, 2010. Photo by Ceasefire Magazine

ARTifariti 2012: can an artist promote freedom?

The Reina Sofía Museum, in Madrid, hosts the presentation of ARTifariti 2012 with a roundtable on art, conflict and human rights.

Performance Gdeim Izik (students of the Art School of Mostaganem).
International Encounter of Art Students and Saharawi Refugees

After the Arab Spring, which was born in the Western Sahara, is it possible to have a proactive type of art, at the same time transformational, that provokes real social change?

The American philosopher Noam Chomsky suggested to the world that the waves of protest that originated in North Africa had really started in Western Sahara at the end of 2010. In fact, the organisational scheme that was imposed in the freedom squares and that Evru collected for the project "The book of the squares" for ARTifariti 2011, had previously designed in the  camp of dignity of El Aaiun, Gdeim Izik, brutally dismantled on November 8 by the Moroccan forces with terrible consequences. The same patterns were repeated, as if in a chain revolution, in Western Sahara, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen... The popular action managed to modify the course of history in many of this places. And among the people demonstrating in the squares, there were cyberactivists and artists who used the Internet to spread their messages and images of change.

Last June 29, in the space REDES of the Reina Sofía Museum, the seminar "Art, conflict and human rights. ARTifariti" took place. At the same time, and supported by a video edited by Jan Busowsky, ARTifariti 2012 was presented. The 6th edition of the International Art Encounters of the Western Sahara will be starting next October 20. Its commissioner, Isidro López-Aparicio, has launched a defying proposal: "The ideal project, the one we are looking for, will free the Saharawis from their exile in the refugee camps. While we wait for this one, every proposal that contributes to give them a voice, take the to the present time and help them to get out of the isolation the have been immersed into through the art will be welcome."

Apart from the invited group, made up of creators who in a certain way have already made their revolution, such as Isidoro Valcárcel Medina, Esther Ferrer, Gao Brothers, Santiago Sierra, Democracia, Gilles Fontolliet, Mohammad Shaqdih, Los Torreznos, Miquel Barceló, Antoni Muntadas, Andreas Kaufmann, Alain Ayers, Daniel G. Andujar, Left Hand Rotation, Tom Hall and the "bus of Art"; any artist could present a proposal.

Documentary by Jan Bosowsky and Isidro López-Aparicio

Can art really detonate these changes? This was the core of the debate that took place after the presentation with Isidro Valcárcel Medina, Pablo España, poet Bahía M. Awax and Isidro López Aparicio.

Since 2007, ARTifariti has been promoting contemporary artistic practices as tools of demonstration, transformation and activation of a specific social, cultural and geopolitical context. A yearly encounter whose central theme is the conflict that derived from the "decolonisation" of the Western Sahara and the continues violations of collective and individual human rights in this territory. ARTifariti is part of an international group of activities and projects that examine the relationship of art and human rights while promoting the art linked to a local community and outside the study room or the museum.

The project is framed in a multi directional and interdisciplinary structure that is thought to address creative spaces at different levels: international encounters of students, diverse actions, communication technology labs and seminars about contemporary arts and culture. Every year, international and local artists share projects that link art and social commitment in an open encounter that aims to enrich and ensure the continuity of the social network in which it is structured.

Isolation. Isidro López-Aparicio

Please note: information and pictures taken from ARTifariti's blog.

EL PROBLEMA, TESTIMONIO DEL PUEBLO SAHARAUI Trailer

As part of our Run the Sahara 2012 launch event, the award-winning documentary 'El Problema' will be screening at Riverside Studios (Hammersmith, London) this Saturday 1st October at 3pm. Buy your tickets here.

PRESS RELEASE: Brits prepare for Running the Sahara 2011

For immediate release: June 2009

Brits Prepare for Running the Sahara in 2011 in support of

Saharawi Refugees

Arts and human rights charity Sandblast launches its UK-wide Running the Sahara campaign for 2011 to raise funds and awareness for the plight of the indigenous Saharawi people of Western Sahara.

London, June 14, 2010 – “The sun rains down its unforgiving rays, everything tastes of sand and our feet are as sore as they’ve ever been”, says Weisi Guo, participant in the 2010 race, “but we have all left a piece of our heart in the Sahara dunes.”

 

Guo was one of the 32 people who joined charity director Danielle Smith on this adventure to the refugee camps on last February for the 10th Saharamarathon, the largest ever UK contingent to participate in the event.

As the official UK facilitator, the charity Sandblast’s annual fundraising project Running the Sahara connects the British people to the reality of close to 200,000 Saharawi refugees through the international sporting event known as the Saharamarathon.

Not to be confused with the Marathon des Sables in Morocco, the Saharamarathon takes place every year in the Algerian Sahara in the Saharawi refugee camps near Tindouf. Organized by the refugees themselves and volunteers from around the world, the solidarity sports competition has been growing from year to year. In its 10th edition in 2010, it attracted more than 400 participants from over 22 countries with an almost equal number of Saharawi refugees participating in it, including Saharawi triple gold medallist Salah Amaidan who won the 10km.

In 2010, the UK contingent raised more than £20,000 for Sandblast’s Saharawi Artist Fund, which finances activities in the camps to empower the refugees to tell their own story, promote their own culture and earn an income through the arts.

Sandblast’s founding director, Danielle Smith, explains, “protracted refugee situations like the Saharawi one suffer from oblivion, donor fatigue and trends that threaten their culture and identity. We focus on the arts because it is a medium with the greatest potential of harnessing global attention and recognition for the Saharawi plight and culture in a positive and inspiring way.”

In the next two years, Sandblast will aim to empower the Saharawis to present their culture and earn an income through their music in the form of the Studio-Live project. Danielle affirms, “there is huge talent in the camps. Saharawi music at this juncture most powerfully expresses their identity and struggle in a way that can reach global audiences and connect with musicians from all over the world.”

Information and details on the Running the Sahara campaign and how to sign up are available on the charity website at www.sandblast-arts.org/projects/running-the-sahara or get in touch with the Campaign Coordinator at runningthesahara@sandblast-arts.org.

-- ends --

To find out more please visit the Sandblast website at www.sandblast-arts.org.  

Press contact:

Cathrin Lemoine

Digital Communications Manager

Sandblast

T: 0044 7825916191   E: cathrin@sandblast-arts.org

Notes to Editor:

• On Sandblast: Sandblast is an arts and human rights charity working with the indigenous people from Western Sahara, the Saharawis. Their identity and culture is threatened by the impact of protracted exile and Morocco's integrationist policies.  It is our mission to empower the Saharawis to tell their own story, promote their own culture and earn a living through the arts.
• On Western Sahara: In a barren corner of the Algerian Sahara, close to 200,000 Saharawis have been living as refugees since the 1975 Moroccan invasion of their country, Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony in NW Africa. Despite the extreme hardships of their exile, the Saharawi refugee community has managed to build a vibrant, democratically run nation-in-exile, where women play a prominent role in all sectors of life, defying many Western preconceptions about Arab-Muslim societies. The Saharawis seek their independence in Western Sahara and have been waiting for the UN to implement the long promised referendum for their self-determination, originally scheduled for early 1992.
• On the Saharamarathon: This international sporting event evolved as a way to show solidarity with the Saharawi people and raise money for projects to improve the lives of the refugees. Organized by representatives of the Saharawi government and volunteers from all over the world, the first Saharamarathon was held in 2001. The event is also child-friendly. There is a race for children which takes place in one of the camps and many Saharawi children, 10 years and older, join in. AIMS (Association for International Marathons and Distance Runs) has sponsored this race over the past few years. Many of you will think it insane to run in the Sahara and fear baking to death. Don’t worry February is a mild month and the event is very well organised. Participants will be transported to the start of each race. The courses are marked with flags and stones, the terrain is mostly packed sand and is largely flat. There will be all the usual forms of support like regularly spaced water stations, four-wheel drives to provide assistance and medical assistance is provided by the International Red Crescent. The event has been growing each year and broadening its base of International participation. In 2010, nearly 1000 people ran in the Saharamarathon races from all over the world. For more info check: www.saharamarathon.org
• On Running the Sahara: Sandblast officially promotes the Saharamarathon in the UK with their campaign Running the Sahara. It facilitates participation in the event as well as raises awareness and funds for its arts ands cultural projects in the camps. 2011 Running the Sahara will be Sandblast’s third fundraising campaign in a row.
• On Salah Amaidan: His remarkable career began under the Moroccan occupation in Western Sahara and his life story is currently being made into a documentary by UK production company Tourist with a Typewriter. He dreams of participating in the 2012 London Olympics.

New Website Tells the Saharawi Story through the Arts

“Arts and human rights charity Sandblast launches new website on its
5th anniversary to highlight mission with the Saharawi people.”

London, May 25th - To celebrate its 5th anniversary, arts and human rights charity Sandblast today announces the official launch of its new website www.sandblast-arts.org. The website was re-designed to complement the charity's vast multi-media resources on Saharawi life and culture and promote digital engagement with community members, artists, scholars and activists with the Saharawis.

Following several months of research on the uses of websites for small charities, the new design was developed with stakeholders, designers and creatives with the aim of creating a space that is easy to access and experience Saharawi art and culture, get information on the situation in Western Sahara and learn of Sandblast's work with the Saharawi refugees.

Cathrin Lemoine, Digital Communications Manager, Sandblast says:

"The new website is now optimized to make information on Saharawi culture and society easily and dynamically accessible to the public to raise awareness for the situation in Western Sahara. Sandblast facilitates art and capacity-building workshops in the refugee camps each year which just could not be showcased very well on the old website.” 

"Now we can engage and connect with artists from all over the world. Members of the public who want updates on ongoing projects will not only encounter facts and figures in endless reports, but also images and stories from those running the workshops and the Saharawis benefiting from them," enthuses Sandblast Director, Danielle Smith.

Through this virtual space, the charity hopes to encourage collaborations to develop ideas and projects with or in aid of the Saharawi people."

New features on the website include:

• access to a vast array of multimedia art by and about Saharawis;
• updates and high-quality material on ongoing projects in the refugee camps;
• archive of multi-media resources on the situation in Western Sahara.

The launch of the website represents a crucial phase in the charity's online presence as the primary UK hub of information on Saharawi culture and its mission to build an active community of collaborators working in different ways to promote the visibility and support of the Saharawi plight through the arts and other educational means. 

You can view the new Sandblast website at http://www.sandblast-arts.org. To win a Tiris Sandtracks mp3, the sound of the Saharawis, send your feedback to info@sandblast-arts.org.

Franco prosecutor Garzón on trial?

The Observer reported last weekend that the Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón it to be put on trial for abusing his power over the investigations he opened in 2008 into Francoist crimes against humanity that terrorised Spain during and after the civil war.

Garzón had made a name of himself by ordering the arrest of Chilean director Pinochet in London in 1998 and investigations into Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi as well as offering judicial advice on how to capture Osama Bin Laden. He is widely understood as the driving force behind a new understanding of human rights law. It is not surprising, thus, that some call for him to receive a Nobel Peace Prize and that others want him behind bars.

Allegations against Garzón cause great outrage amongst Spaniards who were affected by Franco's crimes as much as among advocates of international law and human rigths law. The Observer reports:

"Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on the supreme court to throw out the case. "Garzón sought justice for victims of human rights abuses abroad and now he's being punished for trying to do the same at home. The decision leaves Spain and Europe open to the charge of double standards," said Lotte Leicht, EU advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Instead of a criminal complaint against Judge Baltasar Garzón for investigating crimes under international law committed in the past, Spain should, irrespective of the date of their commission, bring perpetrators to justice," said Amnesty's senior director Widney Brown." (Source: G. Tremlett, "Charismatic judge who pursued Spain's fascist assassins finds himself on trial" on 25th April 2010)

Why does it matter to Sandblast?

Garzón started investigations into genocide allegations against Morocco with regard to their occupation of the Western Sahara territory:

"As Morocco’s government and military have been exploiting the Saharan resources, like fishery, phosphor and oil, and abusing basic human rights of the Saharawis to being “free and equal in dignity and rights” (Article 1), to a Heimat  (Article 12) or “one’s native land” (Euripides 431 B.C.), as well as systematically persecuting those of Sahrawi origin and others of pro-Saharawi ideology with torture (Article 5) and “arbitrary arrests” (Article 9), investigations have been opened by the Spanish prosecutor and judge Baltasar Garzón Real into genocide allegations against the Moroccan government under King Mohammed VI (Marraco 2007, Anon 2007a, 2007b)." (Source: C. Lemoine)

The Argentinian court will rule next month on whether it accepts the case. 

Without having too much insights into what form of abuse Garzón is accused of, it is a great injustice that he is punished for speaking up for the victims of viscious crimes and to take up the fight for their essential human rights  with the world's leading criminals against humanity.

PRESS RELEASE: Britain's Got a "Western Sahara Moment" [UPDATED]

For immediate release

Britain’s Got a “Western Sahara Moment”:
Charity Sandblast urges UK action on Moroccan human rights abuses

London, February 1, 2010 - The increase of reports of violence and human rights abuses against Saharawis in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara has alarmed human rights organisations and activists all over the world. Gordon Brown’s “Western Sahara moment” during Prime Minister’s Questions session (January 13^th) highlighted the general lack of awareness in Britain about the grave human rights problems afflicting the former Spanish colony. In protest, the UK charity Sandblast has launched an e-petition to 10 Downing Street seeking to mobilize British voices to call on Gordon Brown and his government to put more pressure on Morocco to respect universal human rights principles and stop its abuses against the Saharawi people.

In August 2009, a group of six young Saharawis were prevented by Moroccan authorities from boarding the plane in Agadir to attend to Talk Together at Oxford University, a programme  to generate dialogue between young members of communities in conflict. The "Oxford Six” subsequently experienced severe harassment, beatings and abductions.  Then in October, seven well known Saharawi human rights activists were abducted and arrested at Casablanca airport, upon their return from visiting relatives in the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria. They are on trial for treason in a military court and face possible life sentences or even execution. Amnesty International reports that the authorities have been using repressive legislation to force statements, are abusing prisoners and deny adequate legal representation. In November, leading human rights activist Aminatou Haidar was expelled to Lanzarote from her homeland for rejecting to identify herself as a Moroccan national. Only after serious international pressure was she eventually allowed to return home 32 days later and has reportedly been under virtual house arrest ever since. 

The recently published 2009 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report states “Morocco’s backtracking on rights became apparent to all during 2009. Developments in 2010 will reveal whether authorities intend to reinforce this negative trend or put the country back on a path of progress on rights.”

Sandblast's e-petition calls on Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the UK government  to take action and pressure Morocco to respect universal human rights principles and stop its abuses against the Saharawi people. As a leading EU member, the charity urges Britain to ensure that negotiations, due to take place this coming April on the "advanced status" for Morocco in  the EU, are suspended until it meets vital human rights criteria. Founding director Danielle Smith believes Britain has a crucial role to play and that the voices of British civil society need to be heard loud and clear to ensure human rights and freedom for the Saharawis.

Sandblast hopes to collect thousands of signatures by February 27 on the occasion of the anniversary of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, which was proclaimed 34 years ago and is recognized by over 70 countries worldwide. Sign the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/sahrawirights/.

About Sandblast:
Sandblast is an arts and human rights charity that aims to empower the displaced Saharawi refugees through the arts. Close to 200,000 Saharawis have been living as refugees since the 1975 Moroccan invasion of their country, Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony in NW Africa. Despite the extreme hardships of their exile, the Saharawi refugee community has managed to build a vibrant, democratically run nation-in-exile, where women play a prominent role in all sectors of life, defying many Western preconceptions about Arab-Muslim societies. The Saharawis seek their independence in Western Sahara and have been waiting for the UN to implement the long promised referendum for their self-determination, originally scheduled for early 1992.
To find out more please visit the Sandblast website: www.sandblast-arts.org. 

Contact:
Danielle Smith
Director of Sandblast
61 Minster Road
London NW2 3SH
e: danielle@sandblast-arts.org
t: 0783 8463310

UPDATE: 
Download press release from http://sandblast-arts.org/images/Press release_petition_Feb2010.pdf

Amnesty International says "Morocco must adequately tackle legacy of human rights abuses"

"Moroccan authorities have failed to deliver on their promises to tackle the legacy of gross human rights violations committed in Morocco and Western Sahara between 1956 and 1999, Amnesty International said ahead of a report to be published on the issue.

The organization said Moroccan authorities have failed to provide justice to the many victims of the “years of lead”, decades in which hundreds of people were victims of enforced disappearances and thousands of others were arbitrarily detained or tortured.

An official commission established by King Mohammed VI six years ago to investigate human rights violations committed by the Moroccan security services between 1956 and 1999 has failed to fully deal with the legacy of the violations."

Read more here: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/morocco-must-adequately-tackle-legacy-human-rights-abuses-20100113

ePETITION: petitioning vs. human rights abuses

PLEASE SIGN AND CIRCULATE

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to do all in his power to pressure the Moroccan government to respect universal human rights principles and stop its abuses of the Saharawi people under its occupation in Western Sahara.

Saharawi human rights defender Aminatou Haidar was expelled for refusing to acknowledge Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Her 32 day long hunger strike has highlighted to the world the plight of her people.

We, the undersigned, request the British government takes the following actions: Through its bi-lateral relations and influence demand that Morocco frees all the prisoners of conscience held in its jails and particularly raises the issue of the 7 Saharawi activists in Sale/ Rabat, who face a military court trial with possible death sentence.

In its capacity as a leading member of the European Union, call for the suspension of negotiations on advanced status for Morocco unless it complies with required human rights standards. Through its position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, ensure the self-determination rights of the Saharawi people be fulfilled through a referendum.

Follow the link: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/sahrawirights/

Sign. Verify. Circulate. Thanks.

PRESS RELEASE: "PM given letter from hunger-striking..."

Press Release - 10th December 2009 IMMEDIATE
 

PM given letter from hunger-striking Nobel Peace Prize activist:
Lenny Henry joins MPs and campaigners in London

On the day the Barack Obama picked up his Nobel Peace Prize, last year's Peace Prize nominee, Aminatou Haidar, was on the on the 25th day of a hunger-strike at an airport in Lanzarote

Today a delegation of political and celebrity figures including actor Lenny Henry delivered a hand-signed letter to Gordon Brown from  Aminatou Haidar, who is protesting at her unlawful deportation to Lanzarote after she refused to acknowledge Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. In the letter she asks for the urgent support of the Labour government and the British people and says “my spirit remains strong but I feel my physical strength is fading fast”. Indeed, she is now unable to stand and the doctor who examined her this week listed her symptoms as hypotension, nausea, anaemia, muscular-skeletal atrophy and gastric haemorrhaging.

In her letter she asks that Britain bring pressure to bear on Morocco not just to allow her to return home in accordance with her rights under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but also to get them to accept a conflict solution that conforms with international law, namely:

• a referendum on self determination for Western Sahara;
• the cessation of the arrest and torture of human rights defenders; 
• the freeing of all prisoners of conscience most notably the seven prominent human rights activists awaiting sentence from a military tribunal in Rabat which could include the death penalty.
  

Haidar writes:
“I would like to ask you and your government and the people of Britain for your urgent support. Support not just for me but for all the Saharawi people who, for the past 34 years have been forced to live either under an unlawful and brutal occupation in Western Sahara or in desolate refugee camps in the Algerian desert.”

A public letter of support was also be delivered to Mr Brown today, in which signatories -  including MP’s from all three main political parties, MEP’s, ambassadors, trade union leaders, lawyers such as Baroness Kennedy QC and celebrities such as Brian Eno, Terry Jones, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and Juliet Stevenson – call on the government to act. The letter states that the hunger strike “is not about the individual right of one person to return to her home but about the collective right denied to the Saharawi people to live freely in their native land” and they pledge to do all they can to support her and the people of Western Sahara.”

Stefan Simanowitz, Chair of the Free Western Sahara Network who carried  the letter from Lanzarote, said today:
“Aminatou Haidar remains resolute but she is being pushed to the brink of death and her condition is now critical. Her doctor talks about hours or days rather than weeks. Sadly, biology knows nothing of politics.”

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, said today:
“It is fitting that today, on International Human Rights Day, we are here outside No.10 Downing Street, to deliver this letter from Aminatou Haidar, an iconic campaigner for the rights and justice of her people. Throughout the world people have been shocked at her treatment at the hands of the Moroccan authorities and even the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has this week emphasised her right to return home. There has already been tremendous support for Ms Haidar among the British public and in Parliament with a delegation going to Lanzarote and a cross-party motion tabled in the  House of Commons. We call on Britain to play a meaningful part both in bringing justice for the people of Western Sahara and in ensuring Ms Haidar’s immediate return to her home.”

Delegates and signatories to the letter include:
Dr. Zola Skweyiya (South African High Commissioner), Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Terry Jones (actor & former Monty Python),Glenda Jackson MP, John Austin MP, David Drew MP, Peter Bottomley MP, John Grogan MP, Katy Clark MP, Paul Flynn MP, Mark Williams MP, Frank Cook MP, Martin Caton MP, Kelvin Hopkins MP, Dave Anderson MP, Lord Nigel Jones MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jill Evans MEP, Brian Eno (musician, composer, record producer), Mike Leigh (film director), Ken Loach (film director), Juliet Stevenson (actress), Dave Prentis (General Secretary, UNISON), Matt Wrack (General Secretary, Fire Brigades Union), Mick Shaw (President Fire Brigades Union), Gerry Morrisey (General Secretary of BECTU), Paul Laverty (screen writer),  Chrisopher Simpson (actor), John Pickard (actor), John Hilary (Executive Director, War on Want),  Jonathan Heawood, (Director, English PEN), Stefan Simanowitz (Chair, Free Western Sahara Network), Mark Leutchford (President, Western Sahara Campaign UK), Y.Lamine Baali (Polisario Front Chief UK representative), Danielle Smith (Director, Sandblast charity), Giles Foreman (Director, Caravanserai), John Gurr (Western Sahara Resource Watch), Nicola Quilter (actress)

Contact UK press office on 07799650791 or Lanzarote 0034 676634163 or 0034 633208682

NEWS: "Women on the Frontline for Human Rights" (Amnesty International)

Amnesty International released the following piece (Dec 10) on three wonderful women who endanger their own lives to stand up for human rights. To read the whole article, click HERE:

"Aminatou Haidar, Western Saharan human rights defender who has been on hunger strike since 15 November to protest her expulsion from Laayoune in Western Sahara by the Moroccan authorities. She is currently stranded in Lanzarote airport in Spain’s Canary Islands.

"When I was 20 years old, I went through kidnapping and enforced disappearance. I spent about four years, having my eyes covered and without any trial…I went through different physical and psychological torture. After that, I was released and then I was subjected to continuous surveillance.

"In June 2005, I was tortured on the street; it caused me serious injury requiring (14 stitches and I had three broken ribs… I was again arrested based on a fake police report. I was tried and sentenced to seven months imprisonment that I spent in a prison called ‘Lakhal,’ prison in Laayoune.

"As women and mothers in Western Sahara, we are aware that we have a very difficult and important role; it is [to] educate our children to stick to the Sahrawi identity, Sahrawi culture and Sahrawi traditions. It is not an easy task and it is not a new issue. The Occupation is always trying to absorb the Sahrawi culture.

"It is very difficult for a Sahrawi woman, as a mentor to instil these values and at the same time be an activist outside of her home… It is hectic for a woman activist who works in the human rights field… The children are always very scared to loose their mother.

"This generation and the children [in Western Sahara] witness with their own eyes the police oppression… Just imagine many children instead of drawing toys; they draw a policeman with a gun and a stick beating people and people behind bars. I am scared that they will become violent and incite violence… because practicing violence, one day will incite violence.

"It is our role as human rights defenders to call for peace… but our means are very limited, we are not authorized even to organise workshops, trainings… Now it’s becoming more difficult…."

(Source: Amnesty International on December 10, 2009)

NEWS: Nobel Peace Price nominee Haidar on hungerstrike

Frequently referred to as the Saharawi Gandhi, Haidar has now commenced the third week (Update 7/12/9: day 21) of her hunger strike at the Lanzarote airport. 

On Friday, December 5, Spanish authorities informed Haidar that she could return to Morocco and travel without her passport. Moroccan authorities, however, refused to allow the plane meant to take her home to leave on grounds of "technical difficulties". Read THIS to learn about what happened from a Spanish supporter.

For your information
Haidar was expelled from her homeland of Western Sahara after returning there from the US where she received the latest in a series ofawards from the Train Foundation, for her tireless and peaceful human rights advocacy work. Mother-of-two Haidar is in a critical condition and is unable to stand or speak. The Moroccan authorities expelled her on the grounds that she insisted on affirming her Saharawi identity and did not state she was a Moroccan national living int he Moroccan Sahara on her landing card. 

The prime minister of East Timor, Jose Ramos Hortas, Jose Saramago, the Nobel Prize winner for literature, the Oscar winning actor Javier Bardem have all expressed their solidarity and outrage.

Update (7/12/9):
Observer: Morocco-Spain hunger strike deal (Dec 6)

WSahara.org.uk: Amnesty launch URGENT ACTION in support of Aminatou Haidar (Dec 6)

Wsahara.org.uk: Wave of abuse against Saharawi human rights activists (Dec 5)

Barcelona Reporter: "Hunger-striking Nobel Prize nominee Aminatou Haidar in 'critical condition" (Dec 7) 
Alternet: "The Other Occupation: Western Sahara and the CAse of Aminatou Haidar" (Dec 5)


UPDATE (3/12/9):
BBC: Concert backs "Gandhi of Sahara'
Afrik.com: "British Parliament tables motion in support of Aminatou Haidar" (Dec 1)
Indybay: "Ailing Western Saharan Human Rights Activist Aminatou Haidar Demands Moroccan..."
CPJ: "Morocco silences the pens of its journalists"
The Independent: "Marooned at Lanzarote airport, the 'Gandhi of the Western Sahara'"
Amnesty: Morocco/Western Sahara: Expulsion of Human Rights Defender reflects growing intolerance 
Morning Star: MPs' dismay at removal of "African Gandhi" (Dec 1)

NEWS: "British Parliament tables motion in support of Aminatou Haidar"

Spotted on Afrik.com and the Free Western Sahara Network:

"A cross-party group of British MP’s today tabled a Motion in Parliament expressing “dismay” at the expulsion of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amainatou Haidar from Western Sahara. The Motion signed by parliamentarians from all three main political parties states that “this House condemns the escalating wave of human rights violations against Saharawi human rights activists..[and] is dismayed over the expulsion of prominent Saharawi human rights activist and winner of the 2009 Civil Courage Award Aminatou Haidar from Western Sahara.”
Known has the "African Gandhi", Haidar had her passport confiscated by Moroccan authorities on her return from a trip abroad on 14th November. She was deported in unlawfully to the Canary Island of Lanzarote where she has been on hunger strike in the airport terminal for over two weeks.

Her deportation has been condemned by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as her friends and supporters around the world including Nobel Laureates Jose Saramago and President Ramos-Horta, film director Pedro Almodovar and actor Javier Bardem. On 27th November the US State Department issued a statement: “The United States remains concerned about the health and well-being of Saharawi activist Aminatou Haidar, recipient of the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Train Foundation’s 2009 Civil Courage Prize. We urge a speedy determination of her legal status and full respect for due process and human rights.”

Haidar, a life long human rights activist for the Saharawi people, was expelled from Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara because she put “Western Sahara” instead of "Morocco" on her landing card. The Morrocan authorities said she had thereby waived her Morrocan citizenship, confiscatd her passport, and then forced her onto a flight without any papers to Lanzarote against her will. Stefan Simanowitz of the global campaigning group, the Free Western Sahara Network, points out that Haider’s expulsion from Morocco and entry into Spain was a breach of international law. "Aminatou Haidar should not have been permitted to travel without a passport and should not have been allowed into Spanish Territory. Her deportation is in breach of Article 12 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights which states “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.”

Today, campaigners announced their intention of sending a high level delegation to visit Ms Haidar in Lanzarote, and in an open letter, celebrities including film director Ken Loach and former Monty Python, Terry Jones called on the Moroccan government “to return Aminatou Haidar’s passport immediately and allow her to travel home to her country and to her two young children before it is too late."
 

'Aminatou Haidar is an inspirational figure who has devoted over two decades of her life fighting for a peaceful end to Morocco’s 34 year unlawful occupation of Western Sahara,” said Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, Jeremy Corbyn MP. “We hope she will live to continue her struggle for many years to come.'"

(Source: S. Van Loon on Afrik.com)

NEWS: Saharawi activists stopped at airport - again!

There has been a lot of "development" in the occupied Western Sahara territory in the last few weeks. Detentions, disappearances, abuses and tortures are not unfamiliar to the Saharawi but they have presented a force and brutality that has previously been reported  during the war between Morocco and the POLISARIO Front from 1975 until 1992 (when UN peace-keeping initiative MINURSO was established).

These arrests and detentions of Saharawi human rights activists on grounds of "treason" have been considered as a direct reaction to the UN-led efforts last August, when representatives of Morocco and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic came together in Austria to commence peace talks to end the diplomatic stalemate. Van Loon reported only on Tuesday on afrik.com that the recent arrests in August of the Oxford 6, in September of the 7 Saharawi human rights activists in Casablanca, and most recently of Saharawi "Gandhi" Aminatou Haidar may be efforts on part of Morocco to scupper these negotations, but may very well backfire.

It may backfire, but in the meantime, Saharawis in Morocco are not safe. In August, Talk Together was trying to bring the youth of those peoples together that are in conflict with each other, such as Morocco and Western Sahara. Six bright Saharawi students were chosen to attend the programme but were stopped at the last minute when they were about to board the plane in Rabat to London. This encounter was followed by intimidations, detentions, abuse and torture.

The students that were soon to be known as the "Oxford Six" have since endured physical and emotional abuse up to a point that has become unbearable; a point that forced them to consider the unimaginable...to leave their family and friends behind..to leave their home country at the age of 19 and 20 to live in an unfamiliar country and culture with an unknown future as asylum-seekers.

And then this happened:

[T]wo young Sahrawi activists, Hayat Rguibi and Ngaya El-Haouassi, were prevented from traveling to Great Britain. They were detained at the Mohamed V airport in Casablanca this morning at 10:00 and interrogated by security services. Both said their passports and tickets to Great Britain were confiscated by Moroccan airport authorities. They claim to have received abusive treatment. Moroccan authorities are refusing to let them travel abroad.
(ASVDH, November 19, 2009)

I have difficulty expressing my shock, my sympathy, my outrage. I have difficulties to allow myself to imagine what they go through, what they have to endure, for fearing that it would grab me by the throat and strangle me. But we have to face and mention these injustices, make them known as oblivion and ignorance is our cruelest enemy.

STATEMENT: Morocco expels Saharawi "Gandhi" from Western Sahara

UK charity Sandblast condemns Morocco’s most recent act of human rights violations against the Saharawi people following the arrest and detention of leading human rights activist Aminatou Haidar on Friday, Nov 13, at the El Aaiun Airport in Western Sahara. Ms. Haidar was returning from a visit to the United States where she received the Civil Courage Prize from the Train Foundation in recognition of her peaceful advocacy for human rights of the Saharawi people. The Moroccan authorities subsequently expelled her to Lanzarote 24 hours later.

Since October 6, fifteen well-known human rights defenders from Western Sahara have been arrested, detained and interrogated. Seven of them, known as the Casablanca 7 are being tried in a military court for acts of treason after visiting their relatives in the Saharawi refugee camps in SW Algeria. These Saharawis have been targeted for speaking out against the repression of the Moroccan occupation in their homeland and advocating their self-determination rights as recognized by the UN charter and over a 100 UN resolutions. In August, the Moroccan authorities prevented six Saharawi youths from traveling to the UK to participate in the Oxford-based programme Talk Together, which promote dialogue between youth in areas of conflict.

Sandblast founder, Danielle Smith, who advocates the human rights of the Saharawi people through arts and culture, is calling upon the British government and civil society to take concrete actions to put pressure on the Kingdom of Morocco to end the violations it is committing against the Sahrawi people.

“It is no longer tolerable and hasn’t been for a long time for the international community to stand by silently while Morocco systematically violates the fundamental human rights of the Saharawi people to freedom of expression, association and movement”, Ms. Smith stresses.

She affirms that her charity is “seriously worried about the lack of any provisions to protect human rights by the UN peacekeeping forces in Western Sahara”. Ms Smith believes the abuses against the Saharawi civilians will escalate and become more violent following the speech of King Mohamed VI on November 6, which commemorated the 34th anniversary of the Green March. In it the king unambiguously stated that anyone who does not declare their loyalty to the Moroccan kingdom will be considered a threat to national sovereignty and integrity and will be treated as a traitor.

Sandblast calls “upon the Moroccan government to end its violence against the Saharawi people and allow the conflict in Western Sahara to be resolved peacefully and justly in conformance with international law.”

Statement: Sandblast condemns arrest of 7 saharawi human rights activists

London, Oct. 13, 2009 – The apprehension of seven Saharawi human rights advocates in Casablanca last Thursday, October 8, 2009, is the latest systematic violation of human rights by Moroccans against Saharawis after the detention of six Saharawi students in August this year.

Moroccan police arrested a group of human rights defenders from Western Sahara on October 8th 2009 at the Casablanca Airport at the point of their return from the Saharawi refugee camps in SW Algeria. While Moroccan police officers have confirmed the arrest, no further details on the group’s whereabouts and their situation were released.

The group’s visit to the camps had previously been condemned in the Moroccan press and they accused the advocates of treason. The widely published articles and press releases stated that their visit “hurt the feelings of the whole Moroccan people” and demanded an “exemplary punishment” for all members of this group.

Mohamed Abdelaziz, the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) expressed his concern to the President of the Security Council, Mr Le Loung Minh for the safety of the Saharawi detainees.

Sandblast condemns the abduction and fears for the safety of

• Ali Salem Tamek, first Vice-President of the Saharawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA);
• Brahim Dahane, President of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights (ASVDH);
• Ahmad Anasiri, General Secretary of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Smara;
• Yahdih Ettarrouzi, member of AMDH Laayounne Chapter;
• Saleh Lebayhi, President of the Forum for the Protection of Saharawi Children;
• Dagja Lachgar member of the executive office of ASVDH, and
• Rachid Sghayar, member of the Committee Action Against Torture

It's not easy being green? Try being a human rights activist

Activist of all kinds of convictions have made the headline this year. Most prominently in the UK, we remember the G20 protests early 2009 that saw British police officers literally lashing out to protesters causing one death and countless injuries. Only limited and highly censored news of the arrest and abuse of human rights activists at the Beijing Olympics reached us in the summer of 2008. 


No news at all reaches us (unless we look carefully enough), about human rights activists that campaign in support of the Saharawi refugees. While the Moroccan UN ambassador tours the world and proposes... well... "visions", those aiming to effect change or "merely" want to observe, investigate, and understand what is going on "behind closed doors" are hindered to do just that. Hindered with violence, hindered with arrest. ASVDH reports:

Morocco arrests 6 Western Saharan human rights activists at Casablanca airport
08/10/2009 | INFORMATION-UPDATE

ASVDH has received a telephone call from its President, Mr. Brahim Dahanne, confirming that he was on board a plane and had just landed, along with six Sahrawi human rights defenders, at the Casblanca Airport. They had returned from a visit to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, lasting from 23 September and 8 October.

The other activists on the flight were:
Ali Salem Tamek (vice president of the CODESA)
Degja Lechgar (ex-disappeared, member of ASVDH and CODAPSO)
Hammadi Naciri (vice president of the CSPDH (Smara))
Rachid Saghair (member of the Committe Against Torture, Dakhla)
Saleh Lebaihi (president of Forum to Protect Children)
Yahdih Ettarouzi (human rights activist)

At 13h37 (GMT) we called him again and he told us that there were a few police cars near the plane and they will be arrested. Since that time we have lost contact with him. (Source: ASVDH)