Moroccan Woman Dies in Spanish Prison After Release Request Denied

The Moroccan woman died less than a month after the Torrevieja court rejected her request for provisional release on humanitarian grounds, the judge, based on medical reports, having considered that there was "no risk to her health".

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The deceased had been in pre-trial detention since July 1 at the Alicante prison after being arrested with her husband, her son and six other people during an anti-drug operation led by the Civil Guard, reports Informacion. Shortly after her incarceration, she was urgently transferred to the intensive care unit of an Alicante hospital after suffering a heart attack that almost cost her her life. The medical team spent about twenty minutes resuscitating her.

This incident led her lawyer to ask the Torrevieja court of inquiry for her provisional release for "purely humanitarian reasons", without bail with appearances every two weeks. The lawyer also cited the "psychological and physical damage" that the Moroccan woman was suffering from her pre-trial detention after her stay in intensive care, stressing that "a person’s mood is important to recover from an illness".

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But the judge rejected the request for provisional release and ordered the Moroccan woman to remain in detention. In an order dated July 21, the judge stated that elements of the ongoing investigation show that the victim was involved in two drug trafficking offenses and that, according to criminal procedure, the legal conditions are not met to accept the request for provisional release. "It does not appear that her incarceration could pose a risk to her health, since she was immediately transferred to the hospital after her heart attack, from which she recovered," the judge added in his decision.