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Spanish Judge Denies Arrest Request for Polisario Leader Brahim Ghali
Friday 21 May 2021, by
The Sahrawi Association for the Defense of Human Rights (Asadedh) and the Sahrawi activist Fadel Breika, who filed a complaint against the Polisario leader and called for his immediate arrest before his appearance on June 1, did not prevail. The position of Santiago Pedraz Gomez, the investigating judge at the Spanish National Court in charge of the case, remains unchanged. No precautionary measures against Brahim Ghali.
Santiago Pedraz told Asadedh that "the order issued against Brahim Ghali is maintained," reports Europa Press, citing judicial sources. However, the precautionary measures requested against the Polisario chief by the plaintiffs have been rejected. Brahim Ghali, who is due to appear before the Spanish justice system on June 1, has also refused to sign the summons.
The upcoming hearing follows a complaint from El Fadel Breika, a Polisario dissident naturalized as a Spaniard, for "kidnapping, arbitrary detention and torture" in the Tindouf prisons. The investigating judge recently agreed to reopen the case initiated in 2008. A decision that follows a complaint from the Sahrawi Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADEH), for alleged crimes such as genocide, murder, injury, illegal detention, terrorism, torture and disappearances.
The emergency admission of the Polisario chief to a hospital in Logroño, near Zaragoza, under the borrowed name of Mohamed Ben Battouche, of Algerian nationality, has caused new tensions between Spain and Morocco. Tensions that have escalated following the massive influx of migrants to Ceuta. The kingdom has recalled its ambassador Karima Benyaich for consultations after she was summoned by Arancha Gonzalez Laya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain. The UN calls on the two countries to find a joint solution to the migration crisis.