Morocco: Hunger Strike Goes On

The BBC reports that Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar has once again been refused entry into Morocco from Spain as her hunger strike to protest her treatment enters its fourth week.  At a time of increasing Spanish and Moroccan tensions, Middle East Online reports Haidar was not allowed to fly to her home town in Laayoune in Western Sahara from Lanzarote in Spain’s Canary Islands because she refused to identify herself as Moroccan on her documentation, even though she had an exit permit from Spain.  To bring attention to her plight, Haidar began a hunger strike, which has caught the attention of several Spanish celebrities.  According to Euronews, Morocco considers Haidar a blackmailer who, as a member of the Western Saharan Polisario Front, is using this opportunity to push a political agenda.