Innocent Moroccan Man Jailed for 9 Months in France Due to Spanish Police Error in Barcelona Attack Investigation

Mohamed Boumansour had been arrested in February 2018 by a large police force from the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI) at his home in front of his children, reports the channel France 3, citing vozpopuli.com.

It all started from a Facebook conversation in which the authors of the Cambrils attack mention a certain "Moha Crex". The Catalan police then relied on a phone number that, according to the investigators, was used to book a hotel room near the attack sites, a few days before the attacks. This number would belong to the Moroccan.

Last month (December 18), the Catalan police acknowledged its error and informed the French justice system that "Mohamed Boumansour had in fact never used this line". The 32-year-old man was released two days later, on December 20. Despite this release, he remains under judicial investigation and is prohibited from contacting people living in the Tarn.

"Mr. Boumansour has always claimed his innocence," explains one of his lawyers, Moad Nefati. "He thanks the French investigating judge seized of the case because he was able to distinguish between erroneous information transmitted by the Spanish authorities and his own statements that could be verified."