COVID-19 Border Closure Delays Extradition of Convicted Terrorists from Spain to Morocco

The two Moroccans, who finished serving their sentence during the state of health emergency, could not be extradited, in accordance with Article 57.2 of the Law on Foreigners, to the kingdom whose borders remain closed due to covid-19.

The first Moroccan, arrested in Gipuzkoa in 2016, was sentenced in May 2017 to two years and two months in prison for terrorism and dissemination of radical discourse on the Internet. The second is a member of a Daesh cell, who was sentenced to five years in prison by the National Court in December 2016 for having carried out extensive propaganda activity in Barcelona and recruited supporters to go to Syria and Iraq.

Pending the reopening of the Moroccan borders, they will remain in detention, since the foreigners’ detention center (CIE) is also closed by the Ministry of the Interior during this period of health emergency.