Aminatou Haidar Calls for Global Action Against Moroccan Repression in Western Sahara
BERLIN — Aminatou Haidar, President of the Sahrawi Organization against the Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM), has urged the international community to break its silence on the ongoing repression and persecution of the Sahrawi people in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. Speaking at a human rights symposium in Berlin, Haidar emphasized that Sahrawi suffering “must finally be heard after decades of international neglect.”
The symposium, organized by the International League for Human Rights and other pro-Sahrawi groups, provided a platform for Haidar to highlight the dire conditions faced by Sahrawi political prisoners held in Moroccan jails. She denounced the Moroccan authorities’ denial of basic freedoms, stating that “those who raise their voices face torture, imprisonment, and repression—and sometimes, their families are targeted as well.”
In an interview with Germany’s Junge Welt, Haidar described the situation in occupied Western Sahara as “suffocating,” citing the biased judiciary, harsh sentencing of activists, and a severe media blackout. She drew attention to the plight of the 45 Sahrawi political prisoners, particularly the participants of the Gdeim Izik protest camp, who received the harshest penalties. Haidar concluded by calling on German political parties, trade unions, and civil society organizations to show greater solidarity with the Sahrawi people’s struggle for justice and self-determination.
