Spanish Hospital Worker Confirms Polisario Leader Used False Identity for Admission

The employee of the Logroño hospital who was on duty on April 18, the date on which Brahim Ghali arrived in Spain, confirmed on December 14 to the judicial police that the Polisario Front leader had registered under the false identity of Mohammed Benbatouche. He had presented a passport bearing this name and which had been issued to him that same day by the Algerian authorities, reports Vozpópuli.

Judge Rafael Lasala in charge of the Ghali case had ordered the judicial police to identify the employee and take her statement as a witness in order to shed light on this case. According to the police report, the passport presented was not scanned, but simply photocopied in black and white by the hospital admission service, which also did not try to identify Ghali’s companion who could have been his son or the third person who traveled with them from Algeria.

To read: Spanish Air Force Reveals Official Who Authorized Polisario Leader’s Covert Entry

Alberto Lafuente Jiménez, the director of the hospital, had declared on July 21 before the judge that Eliseo Sastre, head of the presidency’s office, had asked him to admit a patient, without specifying who it was. For Judge Lasala, this information reveals that the latter was aware of Ghali’s arrival, which would have been coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To elucidate this case, he has summoned for February 7, the deputy director of operations (DAO) of the national police, José Ángel González Jiménez, to confirm whether the Ministry of the Interior was also informed of Ghali’s arrival.

Brahim Ghali arrived in Spain on April 18 in a medicalized plane from Algeria. He landed at the Zaragoza air base, and without going through customs formalities, was transported by ambulance to the Logroño hospital where he was admitted under a false identity. The lieutenant general of the air force had assured that he had received instructions by WhatsApp message from the former chief of staff of González Laya, Camilo Villarino.