Socorro Gomes: Against the deportation of the Sahrawi diplomat Jadiyetu El Mohtar Sid Ahmed by Peru

Thursday, September 28, 2017

It is with dismay and revolt that we protest against the deportation, on Wednesday (Sept. 27), of the Sahrawi diplomat Jadiyetu El Mohtar Sid Ahmed, who arrived at Lima airport, in the Peruvian capital, on September 9, and have been since then prevented from entering the country. The diplomat was on hunger strike to denounce the controversial decision and still unsatisfactory explanations given by the Peruvian authorities.

The Republic of Peru recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1984 and the diplomat tried to enter the country with her diplomatic passport and her Spanish passport. Jadiyetu did not get a response to the complaint she made to the Peruvian court regarding the violation of her rights, but was still at the airport in protest.

Her lawyers denounced the transfer of the case from one court to another and on Wednesday a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Peru's denial of the diplomat's entry, accusing her of performing diplomatic duties without being accredited for it, which Jadiyetu and her lawyers refute. Relations between Peru and SADR have been suspended since the 1990s.

The decision to deny her entry was issued by the Congress' Foreign Relations Committee, which was, according to the diplomat, influenced by the Fujimorist deputy Rolando Reátegui, president of the Parliamentary League of Friendship Peru-Morocco.

Jadiyetu El Mohtar Sid Ahmed protested at the airport and denounces the degrading treatment she received from authorities who, according to witnesses of the Peruvian solidarity movement, have forcibly taken her through the airport to be deported. We therefore call upon the Peruvian authorities to explain and apologize for the degrading situation to which the Sahrawi diplomat was subjected, an offense against a person and SADR, a grave disgrace and disrespect.

The peace and solidarity movements must join in repudiation of this episode as we continue support the Sahrawi people's struggle for the liberation of the Western Sahara, for the end of the occupation of the Sahrawi territory sustained by Morocco for four decades despite the international commitment with the decolonization of the territory and the self-determination of the Sahrawi people.

Socorro Gomes
President of the World Peace Council