Aminatou Haidar

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Aminatou Haidar (b. 1967) is a Sahrawi human rights-defender, political activist and former disappeared (1987-91). She lives in El Aaiún in Western Sahara with two children (Muhammad and Hayat), is divorced, and holds a baccalaureate in modern literature.

1 Imprisonment
2 Trial and sentence, 2005
3 Release from prison, 2006
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Imprisonment

She was incarcerated in the "Black Prison" of El Aaiún on June 17, 2005, after having been arrested a hospital where she was receiving treatment for damages inflicted by police during a demonstration during the Independence Intifada. Reportedly, she was tortured during interrogations. Amnesty International has expressed great concern about the situation for Sahrawi prisoners in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara, and specifically taken interest in the case of Aminatou Haidar, expressing fear for her right to a fair trial, and stating that she may be a prisoner of conscience (see this report).

[edit] Trial and sentence, 2005

On December 14, 2005, Aminatou Haidar was sentenced to 7 months in prison by a Moroccan court in El-Aaiún. Amnesty, which had sent an observer to cover the trial, immediately issued sharp criticisms of the Moroccan government, and said it was strengthened in its belief that she may be a prisoner of conscience.[1]

There is an international campaign for Aminatou Haidars release which has been signed by 178 members of the European Parliament. The parliament also called for her immediate release in a resolution in October 2005. She has been nominated as a candidate for the Sakharov Prize.

[edit] Release from prison, 2006

On January 17, 2006, Aminatou Haidar was released after having spent seven months in jail.[2] A demonstration[3] received her, and she reportedly commented that "the joy is incomplete without the release of all Saharawi political prisoners, and without the liberation of all the territories of the homeland still under the occupation of the oppressor".[4]