Spain grants Polisario separatist Aminatou Haidar extended residence after several appeals

Spain’s Ministry of Interior granted Polisario separatist Aminatou Haidar an extended residence permit. This allows her to return and reside on Spanish soil legally, reports the Spanish news agency EFE.

The self-proclaimed human rights activist, who had been holding a permit for nearly 17 years on humanitarian grounds, was informed by the General Directorate of Immigration and Borders that the residency, which had expired in 2022 and denied renewal ever since multiple times, has now been extended.

This decision hence allowed the Polisario separatist, who traveled last Wednesday to Laâyoune to farewell her seriously ill uncle, to fly from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Morocco, securing authorization to return to Spain.

Haidar’s lawyer, according to the same source, said that the Immigration Office had previously informed her that she was granted permission to return to Spain before the Ministry of Interior decided to extend her permit.

Her lawyer told El Independiente that media pressure and “the lack of arguments in the denial, which had no basis,” in her view, have ultimately led to this rectification.

The separatist previously feared that if the judicial appeal they had filed in Madrid did not rule in her favor, she would not be able to enter Spanish soil again.

She considered Spain’s authorities’ decision to deny her residency permit renewal as more of a “political measure than an administrative one.”

According to her lawyer, she attributed that to the Spanish government’s shift in stance, with Sanchez recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over its southern territories as “the most realistic and credible framework” for settling the conflict.

“The denial of residence permit is a very serious act. The resolution is full of errors, including the date of application,” grumbled Haider’s lawyer.

The separatist claimed that the Spanish authorities’ initial decision was “obedient to an order from the Moroccan government.”