My son, my heart

Takbar Haddi: A Sahrawi Mother on Hunger Strike Seeks Justice for her Murdered Son

Contacts:

Arabic/Spanish:

saharaui3@gmail.com

English:

sara.mes@hotmail.com

Takbar Haddi, a young Sahrawi mother, recently staged a 36-day hunger strike asking Morocco to return her murdered son's body and to know the truth behind his killing, which took place in one of the world's most politically repressed territories: The Western Sahara.

Starting on May 15th, Takbar Haddi, a young Sahrawi mother, staged a 36-day hunger strike in front of the Moroccan Consulate in Las Palmas, Canary Islands (Spain) asking Moroccan authorities to release the body of her son Mohamed Lamin Haidala, who was murdered in February in the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara. She temporarily ended the strike on June 19th, after vomiting blood. The hunger strike is being continued by supporters all over the world in 24-hour shifts, but she has vowed to return to it if Morocco does not comply with her requests. Haddi is taking her case before the UN Committee on Human Rights today, June 24th.

Haidala, a 21 year-old pro-independence activist, died on February 8, 2015 after suffering a brutal attack by Moroccan settlers in the occupied city of Laayounne. According to her family, rather than arresting the men who beat and stabbed her son, Moroccan police arrested Haidala and denied him life-saving medical treatment during the two days he was held in custody. After he was released, clinic after clinic denied Haidala critical medical help, until he finally died of his injuries on February 8. Moroccan authorities took the body to an undisclosed location.

Takbar Haddi refused to sign the death certificate presented to her by Moroccan authorities and instead demanded that they return his body in order to conduct an independent autopsy that could lead to an investigation into the causes of her son's death, including the beating he suffered and medical negligence by authorities.

Haddi also demands a stop to the systematic human rights violations committed against the Sahrawi population in the Western Sahara by Morocco with impunity and without the supervision of MINURSO, the UN forces in the territory. Haddi's hunger strike echoes that of well-known Sahrawi human rights defender Aminatou Haidar who in 2010 fasted for 32 days in an airport in the Canary Islands after Morocco deported her from the Western Sahara when in an immigration entry form she declared her nationality to be Sahrawi. Morocco relented when Haidar was near death, and she was able to return home.

Thousands of people in the occupied Western Sahara, the Sahrawi refugee camps and in other countries -- particularly Spain -- have mobilized in support of Haddi. Using the hashtags #JusticiaParaHaidala and #JusticeForHaidala, artists like Viggo Mortensen and activists like Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo co-founder Nora Morales de Cortiñas have sent messages in the form of photographs in support of her struggle. Haddi recently received a visit by prominent Sharawi human rights activist Aminatou Haidar and a group of performers tried to hand the Moroccan consulate in Las Palmas a letter requesting justice for Haidala.

What happened to Mohamed Lamin Haidala?

Mohamed Lamin Haidala, son of Takbar Haddi, was a 21 year-old Sahrawi pro-independence activist who lived in the occupied city of Laayounne. This past January 31st he was brutally beaten and stabbed by a group of Moroccan settlers. After the attack, police arrested him and detained him for two days, denying him life-saving medical care. Once he was released, Haidala tried to seek medical attention but was also denied treatment -- a frequent occurrence in the territory. He died on February 8 from his wounds.

Mohamed Lamin Haidala regularly participated in protests against the Moroccan occupation of the Western Sahara and had suffered repression by the occupying authorities. He had lost mobility in one of his hands after one of his tendons was severed in a separate incident.

Takbar Haddi's search:

When she received news of her son's death, Takbar Haddi traveled from Spain to the occupied Western Sahara to claim his body. Haddi says that the Moroccan authorities did not allow her to see her son's body and said they would only release it to her if she first signed a death certificate, which she refused to do. She says that she was offered a sum of 90 thousand Euros in exchange for keeping silent about her son's death, which she also refused. Since then, Haddi says that her family's home in Laayounne is surrounded by police and that her family members have been harassed and threatened by Moroccan authorities. Protests in support of Haidala have taken place in the streets of the occupied territory, but media coverage has been non-existent due to a media blackout on the Western Sahara conflict.

Haidala's case in context

Haidala Mohamed Lamin's case is an example of how Sahrawis are subjected to campaigns of threats, violence and repression in the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara. For the past few years and in addition to employing arbitrary arrests, mistreatment and torture, Morocco has used settler militias to terrorize pro-independence Sahrawis.

Haidala Mohamed Lamin and Takbar Haddi's story illustrates the situation faced by thousands of activists under occupation. Personally, Haidala suffered from repression, threats, attacks by colonists and the denial of critical medical attention -- all because he was a Sahrawi activist.

Background: The Western Sahara, known as Africa's last colony, has been under Moroccan military occupation since 1976 and is considered to be one of the most politically repressed territories in the world. Half of its indigenous Sahrawi population remains under occupation while the other half lives in refugee camps in the Algerian desert, where families fled during the brutal invasion. For decades, Sahrawis have been peacefully struggling for a referendum on self-determination promised since 1991 by the United Nations. On April 8, 2015 a magistrate at the Spanish National Court indicted eleven Moroccan officials on charges of genocide against the people of the Western Sahara during the invasion and its aftermath.

Human rights in the Western Sahara

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights have reported the systematic human rights violations committed by Moroccan occupying forces against the Sahrawi population of the Western Sahara. Beatings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture, military trials of civilians, the denial of the right to free expression and to free assembly, are just some of those violations. According to Freedom House, the Western Sahara is one of the most politically repressed territories in the world.

These organizations have also expressed concern at the absence of effective human rights monitoring mechanisms in the Western Sahara. The United Nations mission to the Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, does not have a human rights monitoring mandate due to effective lobbying by Morocco at the UN Security Council. This past April 30th, the UN Security Council refused once again to expand MINURSO's mandate to include human rights monitoring.

Amnesty International recently released the report Shadow of Impunity: Torture in Morocco and Western Sahara, which documents the endemic use of torture by Morocco in the Western Sahara to silence activists and crush dissent. http://goo.gl/zDjNkg

“Morocco’s leaders portray the image of a liberal, human rights-friendly country. But as long as the threat of torture hangs over detention and dissent that image will just be a mirage,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Scratch at the surface and you will find torture being used to silence protest and torture-tainted convictions in courts. Whether you challenge inequality or stand up for what you believe, you could be a target for violence and torture.”

What can you do?

The Western Sahara remains one of the world's forgotten conflicts. However, you can help change this. Hundreds of human rights and solidarity groups are sprouting around the world, committed to raising awareness about the conflict, demanding human rights supervision by MINURSO and applying pressure to UN Security Council members to act responsibly and broker a peaceful and just solution that includes the promised referendum for self-determination. They support peaceful actions like Haddi's, which help to shed light on the desperate human rights situation of a people who have been under occupation for almost 40 years.

To help Takbar Haddi and the Sahrawi people's peaceful struggle for self-determination you can:

· If you are an association or organization, join more than 400 other groups asking for justice for Mohamed Lamin Haidala. Please e-mail your support to: otrebor_111@hotmail.com

· If you are a human rights organization with capacity to conduct investigation and advocacy, consider taking up this case. You can get more information from the contacts above.

· Take a photo of yourself with a sign saying #JusticeForHaidala and #FreeWesternSahara and share it on social media. Please e-mail a copy to ceas-sahara@ceas-sahara.es and justiciaparahaidala@gmail.com

· Sign the online petition asking the Moroccan Ministry of Justice and MINURSO to investigate the death of Mohamed Lamin Haidala: https://goo.gl/5orGff

· Join the chain of 24-hour hunger strikes. Record a short video of yourself stating your support for Takbar Haddi's request for justice for his son, Mohamed Lamin Haidala. Please contact her support group to communicate your actions and send the video to: rafael.medina@yahoo.es

· Organize a demonstration in front of the nearest Moroccan Consulate seeking a full investigation into Haidala's death and the return of his remains to his family, and notify local media. Please share photos and info on your actions with Takbar's support group at https://goo.gl/Qbhp5V and saharaui3@gmail.com

· Become involved in the movement for justice for the Sahrawi people. You can either join an organization in your country or form a new group if your community still does not have one. You can get more information at

http://www.spsrasd.info/en

http://upesonline.info/eng/

http://mapengl.blogspot.com.es/

http://www.culturesofresistance.org/ws-urgent-action

http://www.wsrw.org/

http://westernsahararesourcecenter.blogspot.com.es/

http://www.saharawivoice.com/

jueves, 9 de julio de 2015

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miércoles, 8 de julio de 2015

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