Status: 06/29/2022 02:52 a.m
At least 23 migrants have died trying to cross from Morocco to Spain’s North African exclave of Melilla. The actions of Moroccan police officers caused horror. Spain’s judiciary is now taking action.
The Spanish judiciary has opened an investigation into the deaths of at least 23 migrants in the storming of Spain’s North African exclave of Melilla. This was reported by the Spanish state TV broadcaster RTVE and other Spanish media.
Attorney General Dolores Delgado justified the decision with the scope of what happened last Friday at the border fence on the Moroccan side. Delgado emphasized that human and fundamental rights of migrants could have been violated in the process.
Human rights activists raise serious allegations
Human rights activists made serious allegations. The Moroccan authorities had used “unjustified violence” and “abused” migrants, Amin Abidar, head of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) in the city of Nador, told the German Press Agency.
People were left trapped on the ground for hours without medical help. As a result, several migrants died.
The UN Human Rights Office is also critical
The UN Human Rights Office and the UN Committee on Migrant Workers had previously called on Spain and Morocco to investigate the circumstances of the 23 deaths. If there are those responsible for the tragedy, they must be held accountable, said a spokeswoman for the UN human rights office.
For Spain’s government, the matter is sensitive. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez blamed the “human trafficking mafia” for the development. Sánchez praised Morocco’s security forces for repelling an attack “on the territorial integrity of the country (Spain)”.
Renewal of relations between Madrid and Rabat
Spain had only recently relaxed its relations with Morocco after giving in to the decades-long dispute over Western Sahara. Madrid now backs Rabat’s plan to turn the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara into an autonomous province under Moroccan sovereignty. Just over a year ago, Morocco relaxed border controls to the second Spanish North African exclave, Ceuta, and allowed around 8,000 migrants to enter Spanish territory unhindered.
Pope Francis also expressed his concern about the deaths of migrants in front of Melilla and also of migrants in Texas. “The fate of the migrants killed in Texas and Melilla pains me,” wrote the head of the Catholic Church on Twitter. On the outskirts of the Texan city of San Antonio, dozens of migrants who were allegedly illegally brought to the United States were found dead in the trailer of a parked truck. US media reported 50 deaths on Tuesday.