A hunger strike staged at Lanzarote Airport in 2009 brought Aminatou Haidar international attention after she was denied re-entry into Western Sahara by Moroccan authorities. The activist, who refuses to identify as Moroccan, spent weeks at the terminal after her passport was confiscated for her refusal to list her nationality as Moroccan upon returning from an overseas trip.
Early life and activism
Born in 1966 in Akka, Haidar spent her childhood in Tan-Tan. Though she holds Moroccan citizenship, she identifies as a Sahrawi activist advocating for the independence of Western Sahara. She is the president of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders and has maintained a career as a literary scholar alongside her political work. She is a practitioner of Islam and a mother of two children, Hayat and Mohammed.
Twenty questions, eight minutes on the clock, and a percentile measured against everyone who has taken it. No sign-up.
Take the IQ test →Imprisonment and forced disappearance
In 1987, Haidar participated in a nonviolent demonstration against Moroccan administration in Western Sahara. Following this event, she was subjected to a forced disappearance, held without trial until 1991. Later, in June 2005, police attacked her during a demonstration in El Aaiún. She was arrested on charges of belonging to an unauthorized association and participating in violent protests. During this second incarceration in the Black Prison, she led a hunger strike to protest conditions and the treatment of other detainees before her release in 2006.
International recognition
Her advocacy for self-determination has earned her several global honors, including the 2007 Solidar Silver Rose Award, the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, and the 2009 Civil Courage Prize. She also received the 2011 René Cassin Prize and the 2019 Right Livelihood Award. Throughout her campaigns, she has garnered support from various figures, including Nobel laureates and international rights organizations that pressured the Moroccan government to uphold civil liberties.
Fast facts
- Born: 24 July 1966, Akka
- Citizenship: Morocco
- Religion: Islam
- Key Organization: CODESA
- Imprisonment periods: 1987-1991, 2005-2006
- 2019 Award: Right Livelihood Award
Questions readers ask
Why was she denied entry into Western Sahara?
Moroccan authorities blocked her re-entry in 2009 because she refused to state her nationality as Moroccan.
Is Aminatou Haidar a member of the Polisario Front?
No, although she considers the movement the only representative of the Sahrawi people.
