Dutch-Moroccan Man Freed After Month-Long Detention in Spanish Enclave

Ouisam Karim will have spent a month wandering the streets of Melilla, without papers, his passport having been confiscated by the Spanish authorities. They had thought his passport was counterfeit and doubted his true identity.

The story has been making headlines in recent days. This is how aid began to arrive from both sides. Ahmed Marcouch, Mayor of Arnhem, for example, who knows the region well, helped the young man find a place to sleep.

The MEP, Mohammed Chahim, also made considerable efforts to get Ouisam Karim out of this vicious circle.

"Human rights organizations have had a conversation with the police in Melilla. Photos and fingerprints were taken. They should have done it much earlier, but they are now convinced that Ouisam is not an illegal migrant," reassures the MEP who received the good news on Monday that Ouisam Karim will recover his passport this Tuesday, October 8.

After a month of vacation, spent at his home in Morocco, Karim Ouisam was arrested in Melilla as he was about to take the boat to Malaga. In this Spanish enclave, many illegal immigrants try to travel to Spain.

Taken for an illegal immigrant, the young Moroccan had his passport confiscated by the police before being brought before the justice system, which then released him.