Morocco Blocks Polisario Leader’s Flight, Forcing Spain-Algeria Diplomatic Standoff

Brahim Ghali appeared on June 1 by videoconference before Judge Santiago Pedraz of the National Court, on charges of torture, rape, kidnapping and human rights violations, before leaving Spain a few hours later for Algeria. Initially, the intention of the Polisario Front leader was to escape Spanish justice and leave the country with impunity. The plane that was to ensure Ghali’s return took off from the Boufarik military base, only 35 kilometers southwest of the capital Algiers, with a secret flight plan. No data on the origin, speed or altitude, let alone the destination of this aircraft, appears in the ADS-B surveillance system databases. But the Spanish authorities were informed of its arrival at the Algoncillo airport, located near the San Pedro de Logroño hospital where Ghali was admitted.

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Spain informed Morocco of Ghali’s departure in an Algerian presidential medical aircraft. An act deemed "unacceptable" by Morocco, which considers that the Polisario Front leader should have left Spain as a foreigner and not as a head of state. After this remark from Morocco, Spain asked Algeria to cancel this flight, but "the plane is already flying," the Algerian authorities replied. As a result, the plane is denied entry into Spanish airspace, at the level of the island of Formentera, by the Palma de Mallorca Control Center (ACC). At the Center’s request, the plane turned around and returned to Algeria.

Spain then proposes to Algeria to send a civilian medicalized aircraft to pick up Ghali as soon as his appearance is over. But Algeria does not have such an aircraft. Spain finally opts for Airlec, a prestigious French air ambulance company. Meanwhile, Morocco, which had managed to turn the Algerian plane around, also demanded that Ghali’s departure be reported in the media. Spain and Algeria, practically with their backs to the wall, accept this condition. And then, around midnight on Tuesday, the air traffic control radar signals the presence of an ARL915 aircraft from Bordeaux airport to an unspecified destination on the ADS-B signal. It finally landed at Pamplona airport, from where it took off with the Polisario leader on board.

Ghali left Spain after 44 days of hospitalization. His presence on Spanish soil has caused a serious diplomatic crisis between Morocco and Spain.