Page 3 Some of these sicknesses were a result of the delicate operation she underwent and from whose effects she was still suffering. The peaceful and civilized sit-in by Aminatou Haidar and her hunger strike culminated in an international campaign in which human rights organizations and laureates as well as parliamentarians, trade unionists and women association representatives, human rights lawyers and artists, participated. As a result of this international solidarity with Aminatou Haidar, Chairperson of the Human Rights Activists Grouping and her 32-day hunger strike, and taking into account her courageous and legitimate defiance of the decision to deport her from her native country, Western Sahara, she was awarded the Lanzarote Prize and later Nelson Mandela Prize for Peace and Solidarity on 11 December 2009. She was also awarded a prize for social creativity in 2009 by Fernando Dominic, Dean of La Laguna University in Spain. All that was in recognition of Aminatou’s human rights activism and rejection of any compromise on her return to her country, Western Sahara in the face of the fierce chauvinistic assault by the Moroccan Intelligence operatives after her forced deportation and the confiscation of all her personal documents at El-Aaiun Airport on 13 November 2009. The statement issued by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, the letters of the US Department of State and Kerry Kennedy, Chairperson of the Robert Kennedy Foundation for Justice and Human Rights to the Moroccan Government, all demanded the urgent resolution of the Aminatou Haider case by ensuring her return to her native Western Sahara in accordance with the International Humanitarian Law which recognises the right of individuals to freely travel and return to their countries of origin without being prevented by anyone from exercising this right.