Tragedy to Closure: Morocco-Algeria Border Opens for Migrant’s Remains After 18-Month Wait

This restitution puts an end to a long mobilization of the Moroccan Association for Assistance to Vulnerable Migrants (AMSV), based in Oujda. The organization had multiplied the steps and communications to obtain the return of the remains so that they could be buried by her relatives in Morocco.

This individual repatriation is part of a broader context of movements at this border. According to consistent information, a group of more than sixty young Moroccans should be repatriated soon.

According to the association, the majority profile of the detainees is that of manual workers (plaster, zellige). Convictions for illegal immigration would sometimes be accompanied by accusations of human trafficking or money laundering.

Similar releases had already taken place recently (migrants and construction workers), transferred near Oujda. The AMSV had then reported sentences of more than three and a half years, sometimes followed by a year of administrative detention.