Rabat - Moroccan authorities expelled to the Canary Islands Saturday a Western Sahara activist close to the Polisario Front rebels, a security source said.
Aminatou Haidar had been arrested Friday in the disputed territory's main city of Laayoun after arriving at the airport from the Spanish archipelago for allegedly refusing to carry out police formalities.
Haidar is a frequent critic of Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara after Spanish colonial rule ended in 1975, prompting an uprising by the Polisario for the independence of the territory.
Seven people were held on October 8 at Casablanca airport, after they visited Western Sahara refugee camps run by the Polisario at Tindouf in southwest Algeria.
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The members of the group are to appear before a military tribunal in Rabat on charges of supporting secession, Moroccan press reported.
Their visit to Tindouf led to an outcry among political parties and Moroccan media.
On November 6, King Mohammed VI warned of a crackdown against "opponents of the territorial integrity of Morocco," referring to Sahrawis who support the Polisario Front.
Morocco has proposed broad self-government under its sovereignty in order to end the conflict which a string of UN peace plans has failed to solve. - Sapa-AFP
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