Western Saharan activist wins prestigious RFK Human Rights Award
16/09/2008 | Information-Update
Aminatou Haidar (right)
Aminatou Haidar, a prominent Sahrawi human rights activist working in the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara, has been awarded the prestigious RFK Human Rights Award for 2008.
Upon hearing the news of her award, Mrs. Haidar said, « For me, as an individual, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award represents a great honor. As a Sahrawi human rights activist, I consider it recognition that the cause of the Sahrawi people is just and legitimate and that our non-violent resistance is noble and righteous, in spite of the risks and the intimidation of the Moroccan authorities. »
Since the eruption of a popular movement against the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara in 2005, Mrs. Haidar has become one of its leading spokespersons. Brutally attacked by Moroccan police and imprisoned in 2005, she became a symbol to many Sahrawis of the power of non-violent action when she nearly killed herself on hunger strike while serving seven months in a Moroccan prison.
Mrs. Haidar was one of many Sahrawis that Morocco « disappeared » into secret prisons during the war against the pro-independence Polisario Front from 1975 to 1991. Mrs. Haidar « disappeared » in 1987, only to be released four years later.
Her recent work against the Moroccan occupation has earned her the nickname « Sahrawi Gandhi » from some of her admirers.
« The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award will provide constructive support to the struggle of the Sahrawi people for liberty and human dignity, » Mrs. Haidar said in the announcement.
See http://www.rfkmemorial.org/legacyinaction/2008_announce
