Sahrawi journalist, poet and human rights activist, born 1971 in En Ayoun, former victim of forced disappearance in Moroccan prisons, fighter for independence of Western Sahara, Malainin Lakhal was one of the founders of the Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union (UPES) and its Secretary General. He is active at Saharawi Natural Resources Watch. Since august 2019, he is Saharawi ambassador to Botswana.