Moroccan Migrant Trafficking Suspect Seeks Asylum in Spain to Avoid Extradition

The Audiencia Nacional held on Tuesday the extradition hearing to Morocco of Yassine Salhi, the Moroccan claimed by his country for having illegally brought sub-Saharan migrants to Europe from Nador, in exchange for 15,000 to 20,000 dirhams (between 1,300 and 1,800 euros). With his network, he has been carrying out this migrant trafficking since 2009 and organizing up to three migrant transfer operations on inflatable boats per week, explains the Moroccan public prosecutor’s office.

Arrested on August 17 in Roquetas de Mar (Almería), the accused indicated that he had already applied for asylum in Spain, believing that the charges against him are part of a "story fabricated from scratch by the Moroccan secret services" because of his militant commitment.

For the Spanish public prosecutor’s office, all the conditions provided for in the extradition agreement signed between the two countries in 2009 are met. The Moroccan’s defense, for its part, evokes human rights violations in Morocco and in the Maghreb region in general to oppose extradition. An argument rejected by the Spanish public prosecutor’s office, which believes that these violations are not sufficiently proven.