Aminatou Haidar
| Aminatou Haidar أميناتو حيدر |
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|---|---|
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| Born |
Aminatou Ali Ahmed Haidar 24 July 1966 Laayoune, Western Sahara |
| Residence | Laayoune, Western Sahara |
| Occupation | Human rights defender |
| Years active | 1987-present |
| Organization | Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders |
| Known for | forced disappearance, hunger strikes |
| Children | Hayat Mohammed |
| Parent(s) | Ali Haidar (father) Darya Mohamed Fadel Lorosi Busaula (mother) |
| Awards |
Solidar Silver Rose Award (2007) Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award (2008) Civil Courage Prize (2009) |
Aminatou Ali Ahmed Haidar (Arabic: أحمد علي حيدر أميناتو; born 24 July 1966), sometimes known as Aminetou, Aminatu or Aminetu, is a Sahrawi human rights activist and an advocate of the independence of Western Sahara. She is often called the "Sahrawi Gandhi" or "Sahrawi Pasionaria" for her nonviolent protests. She is the president of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA). She was imprisoned from 1987 to 1991 and from 2005 to 2006 on charges related to her independence advocacy. In 2009, she attracted international attention when she staged a hunger strike in Lanzarote Airport after being denied re-entry into Moroccan Western Sahara. Haidar has won several international human rights awards for her work, including the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the 2009 Civil Courage Prize.
While her parents lived in Laayoune, a small city in Western Sahara with significant Sahrawi population (and former Spanish Cape Juby) where she passed her childhood, Aminatou was born in 1966 in Laayoune, Western Sahara, her grandmother's town, due to a bedouin tradition. She is not member of the Polisario Front, although she considers the movement as the only representative of the Sahrawi people. She is divorced with two children, Hayat and Mohammed.
In 1987, Haidar participated in a nonviolent demonstration against Moroccan administration of Western Sahara. Along with many other attendees, she was subjected to forced disappearance by Moroccan authorities and held without trial until 1991, when she was released. According to Kerry Kennedy of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, Haidar was "gagged, starved, sleep deprived, subjected to electric shock, severely beaten -- and worse" during her imprisonment.
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