Spanish Court Postpones Hearing for Polisario Leader Brahim Ghali Amid Identity Probe

The judge of the Audiencia Nacional, Santiago Pedraz Gomez, decided to postpone the hearing of the Polisario chief to May 7. He also ordered a police investigation to verify the identity of Brahim Ghali. Since April 21, the head of the separatists has been admitted to a hospital in Logroño, near Zaragoza, under the borrowed name of Mohamed Ben Battouche, of Algerian nationality.

Following a complaint filed by El Fadel Breika, one of the dissidents of the Polisario for "kidnapping, arbitrary detention and torture" in the Tindouf prisons, the magistrate Santiago Pedraz Gomez, investigating judge in Madrid had issued a summons for the hearing of Brahim Ghali on May 5, as well as that of other influential members of the separatist movement.

Two other complaints have also been filed against the leader of the separatists for human rights violations. Another for rape has been filed by a young Sahrawi woman, Khadijatou Mahmoud.