Spain's Foreign Minister to meet Moroccan counterpart over Sahara activist

Spain's Foreign Minister to meet Moroccan counterpart over Sahara activist
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By m.p. - Nov 18, 2009 - 2:14 PM

A protest in Sevilla in support of Aminatou Haidar - EFE

Aminatou Haidar has been on a hunger strike at Lanzarote Airport since Sunday night

The Foreign Minister will meet his Moroccan counterpart, Taib Fasi Fihri, in Rabat on Thursday to discuss the situation of the Western Sahara human rights activist, Aminatou Haidar, who has been on hunger strike at Lanzarote Airport since midnight on Sunday. Miguel Ángel Moratinos is travelling to Rabat with the Prince and Princess of Asturias for the inauguration of a new Cervantes Institute in the Moroccan capital.

Haidar began the protest after being deported from her home country by the Moroccan authorities for writing her nationality as ‘Sahrawi’ on the entry form at Laayoune Airport, Western Sahara’s administrative capital. She is unable to return as she demands as Spain says she needs a passport, and that has been retained by the authorities in Morocco.

Europa Press reports this Wednesday that the activist’s physical condition, on the third day of her protest, had deteriorated to such an extent that she is now using a wheelchair, but she is understood from EFE to be undergoing checks by a doctor from Lanzarote Hospital every four hours.

She’s hoping to board the next direct flight from Lanzarote to Laayoune which is this coming Saturday.

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