Moroccan Migrant Alleges Police Brutality in Canary Islands Detention Center

The CIE platform filed a complaint as well as the testimonies of two other companions of the Moroccan who claim to have witnessed the scene, with the 20th investigating court in Madrid. The document includes a series of images of large bruises on the back and arm of the Moroccan, who is one of the more than 20,000 migrants who arrived in the Canary Islands by boat in 2020. Arrived in Seville at the end of November from Las Palmas, he was arrested at the airport and transferred to the Madrid detention center for his deportation to Morocco.

"I was taking a shower when a policeman ordered me to finish quickly. I replied: One moment, please... Without answering, they started hitting me with batons and, once on the ground, they kicked me in the leg several times," explained the plaintiff in a letter reported by elDiario.es. Having lost consciousness, he was transferred to the medical service of the CIE (managed by a private company) who referred him to a hospital for treatment.

For the guards of the center, the Moroccan would have tried to harm himself, to commit suicide. "I didn’t do anything to myself. It was the on-duty police," retorts the alleged victim.