Two Migrants Missing After Arrest by Moroccan Authorities in Rabat

Eric (pseudonym) one of their fellow unfortunates fears for their lives. This fear is justified by the fight that took place between one of the arrested migrants and the auxiliary forces agents, reports France 24. Unlike the two friends who were taken away, Eric and another friend are still free to move around because they were able to escape. "We were a group of four friends. When the two auxiliary forces agents arrived. I managed to flee with a friend. But the other two, Salif and Moussa [pseudonyms] were not so lucky. They were arrested," he says.

Eric says he has not heard from his two friends since their arrest and they are unreachable by phone. "We don’t know if they were pushed back to the Algerian border or taken to prison, since there was an altercation with one of the police officers," he specifies. If he does not know precisely where his friends are, he at least has a video of their arrest that was filmed by a sub-Saharan woman. This video was sent to the editorial staff of Les Observateurs de France 24 who tried in vain to contact the Rabat police station.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) also has the same video and has even shared it on social media. According to the AMDH, these arrests are recurrent and the victims, generally sub-Saharan migrants in order or clandestine, are arrested and taken away before being removed from the border with Spain. "Often, they are victims of racist insults, beaten and stripped of their personal effects, phones, money..." confides Omar Naji, vice-president of the Nador section of the association. These migrants are also tracked down in the forests located near Tangier where they live while waiting to reach the Spanish coasts through the Strait of Gibraltar.