Aminatou Haidar

Who is Aminatou Haidar?

Aminatou Haidar is a Sahrawi human rights activist and advocate for the self-determination of Western Sahara, sometimes referred to as the "Sahrawi Gandhi" for her sustained commitment to nonviolent resistance. She has been arrested and detained on multiple occasions by Moroccan authorities in connection with her activism, including a period of detention in the 1980s during which she has said she was subjected to torture. She became internationally known in 2009 when, after being denied re-entry into Western Sahara at El Aaiún airport for refusing to list her nationality as Moroccan on an immigration form, she was stranded at Lanzarote airport in Spain's Canary Islands and conducted a hunger strike lasting more than thirty days that drew global media attention before she was permitted to return home. She is a founder and president of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) and has continued to document and campaign against human rights abuses in Western Sahara. Her activism has been recognized internationally with the Right Livelihood Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, both in 2008, and she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in multiple years.

Sources: Right Livelihood Foundation, "Aminatou Haidar" laureate profile (2008) · Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, "Aminatou Haidar" award profile (2008) · The Guardian, "Aminatou Haidar ends hunger strike after Morocco climbdown" (2009)