The Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, has asked the Ministry of the Interior this Friday to provisionally authorize, “for humanitarian reasons,” the entry into Spain of the Sahrawi activist Youssef El Mahmoudi, who has been held at Bilbao airport for 12 days. In a letter, Rego has asked Fernando Grande-Marlaska’s department to take into account that “returning him to Morocco would put him in serious danger.” Spain is expected to deport El Mahmoudi to Morocco this Sunday, after a first failed attempt on Friday.
In the letter, Rego highlights “the personal and physical situation of this citizen” and claims to echo a request from El Mahmoudi’s lawyer, who began an asylum process on June 24 at Bilbao Airport, where he landed on a flight from Morocco. Rego has shared on social media his “great concern” about the risks for the activist who, as he recalled, “has a solid and proven history of persecution due to his student activism in defense of the Sahara.”
Youssef El Mahmoudi is a young activist who has been persecuted for his commitment to defending Western Sahara.
Returning him to Morocco would put him in grave danger.
We have proposed provisional authorization to enter Spain for humanitarian reasons. https://t.co/N1QQJk5349 pic.twitter.com/HHsADkEIHh
— Sira Rego 🔻 (@sirarego) July 5, 2024
The minister says that her department has followed the case through complaints from organisations such as ZEHAR Errefuxiatuekin and warns that, if the young man’s request for entry into the country to manage his international protection measure is not heeded, this “may entail great risks for him”. “Unfortunately, this case takes us back to that of Husein Amadour, a young Sahrawi university student who was imprisoned after being returned to Morocco,” she said.
In her letter to Marlaska, the minister explained that the activist’s lawyer had submitted a request for authorisation to enter Spain “for exceptional reasons of a humanitarian nature” based on article 25.4 of the Immigration Law and article 4.2 of the Immigration Regulations, “which establish that entry into Spain may be authorised for foreigners who do not meet the established requirements when there are exceptional reasons of a humanitarian nature, of public interest or acquired compliance with Spain”.
Youssef El Mahmoudi will likely be returned to Morocco next Sunday after the pilot of the flight to Tangier refused to take him on Friday, police sources confirmed to Europa Press. Initially, the flight, operated by Air Arabia, was scheduled to leave with him on board at three in the afternoon from Loiu (Bizkaia), but this was not the case. Apparently, the pilot considered that the flight was “not safe” with the young man and refused to take him on the plane to Morocco, where he was to be transferred after his request for asylum was denied. Finally, he will be returned on a flight this Sunday that is scheduled to leave Loiu airport at 17.40 and, according to the same sources, the young man would no longer have “problems” about travelling to that country.
What matters most is what happens closer to home. To make sure you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
KEEP READING
This young man, who will remain in the National Police facilities at Loiu airport, had started a hunger strike last Wednesday to denounce the risk he was running of being expelled, and was taken to the hospital on Thursday night to undergo a check-up to verify his state of health. After the tests, he was discharged at around two in the morning and returned to the airport, where he is expected to remain until at least this Sunday. The National Court denied last Thursday the precautionary measure requested to prevent the young man’s deportation to Morocco.
#Ministry #Youth #asks #Interior #Sahrawi #activist #enter #Spain