Spanish Judge Orders Investigation into Polisario Leader’s Covert Entry

In this order to which ABC had access, the judge asks the police to find this person whose testimony should make it possible to know the identity of the person(s) who authorized Brahim Ghali’s entry into Spain. Specifically, the judge instructed the police to go to the Zaragoza base and question the officer who was with this "unknown" person at the time the plane carrying the Polisario leader landed.

The person sought, dressed in a suit and tie, had coordinated Ghali’s arrival at the Zaragoza base on April 18, according to the ambulance driver who transported the Polisario leader from the military base to the Logroño hospital during his appearance in February.

To read: Spanish Intelligence Suspected in Covert Transfer of Polisario Leader to Hospital

Brahim Ghali, accompanied by his son and a doctor, arrived in Spain in April to be treated for Covid-19. The Spanish authorities are said to have given instructions for him and his companions not to undergo customs formalities when they disembarked at the Zaragoza air base. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha Gonzales Laya, and her then chief of staff, Camilo Villarino, are said to have been tasked with facilitating their entry into the territory.

Heard by Judge Lasala, the latter did not reveal the identity of the person who authorized Ghali’s entry into Spain, thus compromising President Pedro Sanchez, who, according to the Algerian authorities, would have agreed to host Ghali. The Polisario Front leader entered Spain under a false identity (Mohamed Benbatouche), which caused a serious diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco.