Saharan activist faces court

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Aminatou Haidar has been refusing food at Lanzarote’s airport since Sunday after being expelled by Morocco from the disputed territory.

She is protesting at Spain’s refusal to let her return to Western Sahara.

Morocco controls most of the Western Sahara but Algerian-based separatists want a vote on independence.

Ms Haidar was held by Moroccan authorities on Friday when she arrived in Western Sahara’s main city, Laayoune – where she lives – on a flight from the Canary Islands.

She was then sent back to the islands without her Moroccan passport.

She has accused Spain of holding her against her will by not letting her return to Western Sahara, but Spanish officials says she cannot leave without a passport.

They say she was allowed into Spain because she has a Spanish residency permit.

On Monday, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos urged her to be calm while Spain tried to resolve the issue.

 

Posted by Tash on Nov 17th, 2009 and filed under Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

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