Morocco: Sahara Activist Saga Continues

Amnesty International has called for Morocco to allow Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar, who is currently on a hunger strike after being denied access to her homeland, be allowed to return to the Sahara.  In a petition to Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi, Amnesty called on the “authorities in Morocco to allow her immediate and unconditional return to Laayoune and give her back her passport” and unblock her bank account.

While Haider is possibly hours from death, The Guardian reports that Morocco has taken a firm line on the matter, with the foreign minister, Taieb Fassi-Fihri, insisting that Haidar had “disowned her identity and her nationality” and “must accept, on her own, the legal and moral consequences which result from this behaviour”.  In addition, Middle East Online writes that Morocco has charged Haider with being part of a “systematic, methodical plot devised by Algeria.”