Spain Covers Fugitive Responsible for Murder and Torture of Spanish Citizens”

Several news websites in Latin America are surprised to see that the Spanish government hosts on its territory “a fugitive from the Spanish justice system (the man named Brahim Ghali), who is responsible for the murder and the torture of Spanish citizens”. Thus, the “Alternative Press Agency” wrote that the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez “put aside the Spanish laws” by hosting on its territory the man named Brahim Ghali, holding a false passport with the name of “Mohamed Benbatouch”. The same source recalled that even if the socialist government gave “strictly humanitarian reasons” to justify its decision, Ghali is accused by the Spanish “Audience Nationale” (the highest court in Spain) “of crimes of genocide, murder, torture and enforced disappearances against Sahrawis of Spanish nationality in captivity in the Algerian camps of Tindouf”. The Argentine agency recalled that during the war period, “Polisario terrorism killed 300 people and injured hundreds of others (…). All these attacks constitute crimes against humanity and were committed on direct orders by Brahim Ghali”. For its part, the Argentine news site “El Desafio semenario” spoke of a “scandal” in Spain, after the reception of the man named Ghali with a false passport, to escape the Iberian justice which sues him for “violation of human rights”. ElDesafio highlights in details the complaint filed against Ghali by a young Sahrawi, Khadijatou Mahmud, victim of rape perpetrated by this individual in 2010 in Algiers. The website also recalled the complaint filed against 25 members of the Polisario (including Ghali) and three Algerian officers for “assassinations, illegal detention, terrorism, torture and enforced disappearance” of Sahrawis in the Tindouf camps. After this complaint, Ghali had to leave Spain in a hurry to take refuge in Algiers, as a representative of the Polisario. “Until today, he is being prosecuted in Spanish courts,” especially since the crimes mentioned were committed against Spanish citizens, insists the publication. The Chilean news site “ElSiete” highlighted the fight of the Sahrawi Association to combat impunity in the Tindouf camps to bring Brahim Ghali to the Spanish “Audience Nationale” to answer for his crimes of “rape, torture, extrajudicial executions and murders” perpetrated against hundreds of Sahrawis and Mauritanians in secret prisons southwest Algeria. The victims had to resort to the Spanish justice system due to “the lack of mechanisms capable of guaranteeing justice in courts in Algeria,” wrote ElSiete. The Sahrawi association considers that Ghali’s presence on Spanish soil is an “opportunity for the rule of law in Spain to guarantee the rights of victims and their families. The competent Spanish institutions are obliged to shoulder their responsibility and to detain Ghali, insisted this Association quoted by ElSiete.