Mayuba Mohamed, 23, has lived in Europe since she was 11-years-old, after being adopted by a Spanish family in 2003.
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Spending most of her youth in Spain before moving to London to work, Mayuba returned to the refugee camp in Algeria this summer to visit her family - after she was told her Grandmother was sick.
But in late August, Mayuba had her passport confiscated and was told her family intended to keep her in the refugee camp forever. Her father went so far as to say: 'We prefer to see you dead than back in Spain.'
Her family and friends in Europe have since been campaigning for her safe return, although so far they have had limited progress.
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‘They are putting Mayuba under immense pressure to sign documents to state that she is staying out there of her own free will,’ said a friend of the 23-year-old.
‘Until yesterday we had not been able to communicate with her for two weeks and her mental state is now very fragile,’ she added.
Mayuba was intially in phone contact with her adoptive family, but this has become less frequent since her father confiscated her mobile phone from her.
In Sahrawi culture it is traditional for the daughters to look after their ageing relatives, and as Mayuba is the only daughter amongst several brothers, she is expected to take up this responsibility.
The Sahrawi camp, which is near Tindouf in Algeria, was established in the 70’s for Sahrawi refugees fleeing from Moroccan forces during the Western Sahara War. As most of the refugees still live in the camps, this is one of the most long standing refugee situations in the world.