Polisario Leader Ghali May Evade Spanish Court Appearance, Sources Claim

In a brief interview with the newspaper Okdiaro, Salem Lebsir said that the accusations, in particular of war crimes, genocide, kidnapping and torture, against the Polisario leader are lies and that Brahim Ghali will leave the country within the next ten days, without appearing before the investigating judge in Madrid, Santiago Pedraz Gomez.

The "Sahrawi" leader said that the president of the "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)" is doing better. Brahim Ghali had meanwhile refused to sign the discharge of the summons from the Spanish justice system on the grounds that he had to consult "the Algerian embassy and people he trusted". All things that confirm the Polisario’s threat to exfiltrate its leader. Salem Lebsir is also present on Spanish territory.

According to other sources close to the Polisario leadership, Brahim Ghali would have already flown to Algeria aboard a private plane from Zaragoza airport. The Moroccan intelligence services, who had revealed the admission of the head of the separatists to a hospital in Logroño under a false Algerian identity, have not, for the time being, confirmed this information.

The emergency admission of the president of the "SADR" to a hospital in Logroño under an assumed name has created a new diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which is ongoing. In a statement to Europe 1, the Moroccan Foreign Minister warned Spain against any attempt to exfiltrate Brahim Ghali, who is receiving post-Covid care. "If Spain tries to exfiltrate" the head of the separatists "it is because it is looking for the aggravation of the crisis, even the rupture," he had warned.