Morocco Expels Spanish Human Rights Lawyers from Western Sahara

The two lawyers were on a mission for the General Council of Spanish Lawyers and the International Association of Lawyers for Western Sahara. Even before the plane landed in Laâyoune, the flight attendant had already informed them, mentioning "their names and first names," that they could not disembark, Inés Miranda told El Español.

"When all the passengers had disembarked and we were about to leave, the runway was full of police officers, some of whom got on the plane to arrest us," she adds. The two lawyers were sent back to the Canary Islands on the same plane, even though the Spanish and Moroccan authorities were informed of their mission and its purpose, Miranda points out, stressing that she had informed the Spanish ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Equality, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and even the UN rapporteurs.

"They are ready to do anything to prevent a look like that of the lawyers, a critical look at what is happening there (in the Sahara). So they have put up an iron curtain and it is impossible to enter," she explains. The two Spanish lawyers were supposed to meet and exchange with activist Aminatou Haidar, as well as with human rights organizations, women’s groups and relatives of Sahrawi political prisoners.

Miranda also explains that Morocco cannot expel them from the Sahara. "It prevents us from entering, but it has no jurisdiction to expel us, because the administrator (of the Sahara) is Spain and it, an occupying force," she specifies, recalling having already been expelled in 2021 while visiting the Sahrawi activist Sultana Khaya in Laâyoune. The lawyer denounces "the total silence and contempt" of the Spanish authorities in this situation.