The Government of Spain has repeatedly ignored several reports from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the protection of Sahrawis who have been staying in the Barajas airport in Madrid for weeks. The documents, to which EL PAÍS has had access, are addressed directly to María Cruz Fajardo Vizcayno, deputy director general of Asilo, who reports to the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. In all cases, UNHCR has recommended that Spain authorize the entry of citizens of Sahrawi origin instead of trying to expel them, as it has been doing in recent days, the last time in the early hours of this Monday.
One of the cases that has at least four UNHCR reports supporting it (dated September 12, 14, 23 and 26) is that of Hamou Ali. He is a 30-year-old man, born in El Aaiún, capital of Western Sahara, who is deaf and mute and suffers from cancer. On September 7, upon arrival in Barajas, he submitted a request for recognition as a stateless person and is now serving 24 days in an airport room, along with almost 40 Sahrawis who have also been denied asylum or the stateless procedure. They have already spent nearly three weeks suffering from overcrowding, rationed food and unsanitary conditions, according to their lawyers.
In all its reports, UNHCR reminds the Government that the convention on the status of stateless persons stipulates that “States shall not expel any stateless person who is legally present in the territory of such States.” It also cites the manual of that UN agency which states that “to ensure that procedures are fair and efficient, States are advised to refrain from expelling an individual from their territory while the outcome of the process is pending.” For this reason, UNHCR urges the Government of Spain in these reports to “authorize the entry of the applicant into the territory in order to continue with the statelessness procedure.”
But, in addition, taking into account the state of health and disability of Hamou Ali, UNHCR “recommends that the authorities assess the possible concurrence in the present case of the requirements for recognition of a permit for humanitarian reasons.” So far, none of the avenues recommended by the UN refugee agency have been accepted by the Interior.
Interior sources have responded to this newspaper that “each case is evaluated individually before adopting a final resolution,” which, according to said department, “always complies with the criteria and requirements established in national and international legislation regarding international protection.” ”. However, they have ruled out commenting on the reports sent by UNHCR or on each specific case, citing reasons of confidentiality.
It is not the only case in which this agency has urged the Government to accept it. An identical recommendation has been issued for Raschida Amaador, 32, who arrived in Barajas on September 20 on a flight from Marrakech (Morocco). His nephew, Efe reported, was deported to Morocco after arriving in the Canary Islands by boat in 2019 and is currently serving a 12-year sentence in a Moroccan prison. Raschida was denied international protection. Her lawyer requested a re-examination of the request, which was also rejected, despite the fact that UNHCR had issued another report favorable to her on September 28, 2024. Amaador was one of the people that the Interior tried to expel in the early hours of this Monday in an Air Europa flight bound for Marrakech, but she refused to board the plane and remains at the airport.
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Like them, Mohamed Aliaa, cousin brother of Hassana Aalia, is also still in Barajas, a renowned Sahrawi activist who lives in Spain whom the National Court recognized as an asylum seeker and who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Morocco for his participation in the Gdeim camp protests. Izik in 2010. The daughter of Aicha El Talbe also remains at the Madrid airfield, to whom Spain has denied protection, despite the fact that – with the same documentation – France granted it to the mother and her siblings.
Fatma El Galia, lawyer for several of the Sahrawis who are in Barajas, denounces that “procedural guarantees have not been given within the asylum procedure” and cites, for example, the fact that the interpreter who has made himself available to those detained He is from Morocco and speaks Dariya, the Moroccan dialect Arabic, while the Sahrawis speak another variant of Arabic, Hassania. “This violates what the asylum law says,” says the lawyer, according to which the applicant must be provided with an interpreter who speaks his or her language.
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