In late October the Rafto Foundation, together with the Norwegian Students´ and Academics´ International Assistance Fund (SAIH), Norwegian Refugee Council and 30 other Norwegian organisations initiated a campaign to urge Moroccan authorities to immediately return the passport of Sidi Mohammed Daddach, the 2002 Rafto Prize Laureate and former Saharawi prisoner of conscience. The campaign was a success and November 23, Daddach had his passport returned after three and a half years. (06-DEC-06)
Text by the Rafto Foundation and photos by Thomas Frantsvold
«I am very thankful to you and to the institution for the great job you did concerning the pressure you did to free my passport. The letters you sent to the Moroccan minister of Interior had great effects on freeing my passport. That enabled me to visit my beloved mother in the Saharawi camps in Tindouf, Algeria. » Sidi Mohammed Daddach stated in an e-mail received by The Rafto Foundation on December the 4th.
The passport of Mr. Sidi Mohammed Daddach was confiscated on March 23, 2003. Mr. Daddach was arrested by the Moroccan authorities at the airport in Casablanca, when he tried to travel to Geneva to meet with the UN Human Rights Commission.
The campaign to re-claim Daddach’s passport and to provide him with valid traveling documents was initiated in connection with the 20 years anniversary of the Rafto Prize November 4, 2006. Daddach together with all former Rafto Prize laureates were invited to attend a human rights symposium in Bergen, Norway.
Daddach did not receive his passport in time to attend the Rafto’s 20th anniversary, however, he has now been able to travel to Algeria to say a final goodbye to his mother who lives in one of the refugee camps in Tindouf. She is 91 years old and is in bad health. The only thing that kept her alive was the hope of seeing her son again.
– We are very happy to hear that Daddach was finally able to see his mother again, most likely for the last time. For human rights activists this is a victory and it is an example of how coordinated actions from various NGOs can have an effect on governments, says Arne L. Lynngård, the Rafto Foundation.
The last time Daddach met his mother was in November 2002. After strong pressure from Norwegian NGOs and diplomatic efforts from Norway, the Kingdom of Morocco agreed that Sidi Mohammed Daddach could travel to Norway to receive the 2002 Rafto Prize. In Bergen he was able to meet for the first time, after some 27 years of separation, with his mother and sister, who had come from the Tindouf refugee camps especially for the occasion.
In his report to the Security Council in 2003 on the situation concerning Western Sahara (S/2003/59) the Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated the following: «I wish to express my appreciation to all those who contributed to this, albeit temporary, family reunification».
For information in Norwegian: Norwegian Refugee Council
Background:
In 2002 Mr. Sidi Mohamed Daddach, a former Saharawi prisoner of conscience, was awarded the Rafto Prize. Daddach is a strong symbol for the suffering of the Saharawi people and their struggle for self-determination. In spite of having spent more than half his life as a prisoner of conscience, Daddach has never given up the struggle for the Saharawi people´s basic rights and for human dignity. He has pointed out serious violations of Human Rights, not least the political prisoners´ situation and the destiny of the many hundred Saharawis who have “disappeared” since 1975.
photo by Thomas Frantsvold
For video-interviews of Daddach
