Belgo-Moroccan Prisoner’s Release Complicated by Coronavirus Border Closures

The conditions for Ali Aarrass’ release from prison will not be the easiest, especially since this release from prison comes in a context marked by the spread of the coronavirus. Morocco has completely suspended its air links and closed its borders. Yet the Belgo-Moroccan will have to go to Melilla, where part of his family, including his sick father, lives, in the company of his sister, Farida Aarrass. The latter is actually part of a committee that will have to welcome Ali upon his release from prison. But things have turned out to be more complicated than expected.

On Wednesday, Ali’s sister presented the situation. "The current situation complicates and will continue to complicate the organization of his welcome. We had planned to meet several of us on the spot, to welcome him together with dignity. Fate has decided otherwise. The booked flights are canceled, the borders are closed and so even the family in Melilla cannot go there. And so Ali might find himself alone when he gets out of prison. Fortunately, we know people on the spot who can take care of him as he should and even more," she writes on her Facebook page.

In 2011, Ali Aaarrass had been sentenced to 12 years in prison in Morocco for "arms trafficking for a terrorist network". A year earlier, Spain had extradited him after arresting him in 2008. The Belgo-Moroccan had first spent six years in the Salé prison. Then the other years in Tiflet, in isolation 23 hours out of 24. Today, at the age of 58, he will have to leave prison on April 2.