The Sahrawi activist Aminatu Haidar will be able to stay in Spain, for the moment, due to “exceptional circumstances”, as stated in additional provision 1.4 of the Immigration Law. The Secretary of State for Migration contacted the affected woman last November, shortly following she publicly denounced that she had been denied a residence permit for humanitarian reasons – which she had had for 16 years – to offer her this new way of staying. .
“Aminatu thought this solution was good and we provided all the papers for the request,” explains her lawyer, Fatima M. Fadel, in conversation with this newspaper. They did not learn more regarding the matter until last Friday, when they were notified that the new permit had been granted for two years retroactively. Which means, the lawyer explains, that the validity period began in January 2022 – when he made the request for an extension in Jaén that he enjoyed until then – and expires on January 29.
“But we have [un plazo de] 90 days to request a modification,” he clarifies. This opens the door to request that it be converted into a non-lucrative residence permit – the work permit is ruled out for health reasons – for the next two years. You might also apply for a permanent one in the future.
On the one hand, Fadel interprets this solution positively. “It’s as if nothing had happened; “They have agreed to allow it to continue in the system legally.” In such a way that Haidar has never been in an irregular situation in the eyes of the administration. “The way is open to us to request a long-term permit.”
However, the lawyer considers that “it is bloody” that they denied the extension of the permit for humanitarian reasons that she had had for 16 years and believes that, with this “half-solution”, the Government wants to put an end to the “serious error” that committed. Hence, her position is to maintain the appeal they filed for that decision “so that there is a sentence in which the error is made visible.” But continuing this judicial route will be Haidar’s decision, she emphasizes.
Permanent permit
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“Applying for a permanent residence permit has always been his idea,” says Fadel. In fact, she adds, the activist already requested it on one occasion and was denied “with some reason,” since she did not fulfill the minimum amount of time in the country. Now, the lawyer points out, her client will have to decide if she requests this documentation once more, even though her periods in Spain are still insufficient. “She travels a lot for her activism and wants to be in her fight in Laayoune,” she argues. But they did not have time to discuss the options before Haidar flew precisely to El Aaiún from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The activist learned of the granting of permission for special reasons last Friday, just an hour following she had been granted written authorization to return by the Foreign Ministry. Haidar had requested the latter, since he was leaving that same day [aunque el vuelo se retrasó hasta el día siguiente] to Western Sahara to say goodbye in the city of Dakhla to his maternal uncle, with whom he had lived and who was regarding to die.
Finding herself in an irregular situation until that last moment, the human rights defender feared that the Moroccan authorities would prevent her from returning following the funeral if she did not carry a document proving that she might enter Spanish territory. “They gave her authorization because depriving a human rights defender of her exit and entry would not have been shared by public opinion,” says Fadel. “And she needs to return for health reasons, because there [en el Sáhara Occidental] There is no guarantee of access to the health system,” he clarifies. According to her lawyer, the activist suffers from fibromyalgia, she has had surgery twice on her knee and once on her elbow, and she suffers from chronic osteoporosis.
Aminatu Haidar was sentenced by Morocco to seven months in prison in 2005 for defending the creation of a Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in the territory of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara, currently under Moroccan control. She served one month and, following pressure from the international community, she was released. In November 2009, she was involved in what is known as the Haidar case: the activist began a hunger strike at the Lanzarote airport when Morocco expelled her and withdrew her passport, which, 32 days later, once more due to international pressure and the precarious state of health of the activist, he returned.
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