Presence of Man Named Brahim Ghali in Spain “is Not Only Political Problem, It is Question of Human Rights”, Chilean Media

The presence in Spain of man named Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario militias, with a false passport and an authorization from the Spanish government, “is not only a political problem, it is a question of human rights” because of the heavy accusations weighing on this individual, writes Chilean news site El Mapocho. “This presence cannot be tolerated or justified for humanitarian reasons, because the crimes against humanity which he has committed, according to all the treaties, cannot be time-barred.” And because of this, the authorities of the host country, in this case Spain, are obliged to arrest him and act in accordance with international law and conventions relating to human rights that this country has ratified, adds the Chilean media. By way of comparison, El Mapocho recalls the 1998 detention of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet in England where, like Ghali in Spain, he had been hospitalized. Ironically, the arrest of the former dictator Pinochet was carried out at the request of a Spanish judge who accused him, in British courts, of having committed crimes against humanity. At the time, the English authorities did not hesitate to arrest him inside the hospital and bring him to justice for his crimes, it notes. El Mapocho points out that clearly, Madrid’s response, in the case of Ghali, has not been the same. For reasons that everyone ignores, Spain, instead of solving an easily solved problem, gets tangled up in incomprehensible statements, while formal complaints have been filed against Ghali for crimes against humanity, with testimonies of victims represented by the Sahrawi Association for Human Rights. To this is added the “uneasiness” of the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha González Laya, who “avoids” responding to requests from Morocco, a neighboring country with which Spain has important economic relations and close cooperation in the areas of security, the fight against terrorism and illegal migration. El Mapocho recalls that Brahim Ghali is accused by Sahrawi human rights activists and international organizations which hold him responsible for secret prisons in southern Algeria, where dissidents are still missing, of rape of women and embezzlement of humanitarian aid intended for the populations of the Tindouf camps. Recalling how Pinochet managed to mock the justice system, El Mapocho fears that Ghali will do the same, calling on the Spanish government and courts to act quickly to make Brahim Ghali stand trial for the serious crimes he is accused of. “If they do not do it, Spain will become complicit in these crimes because it will have set free an accused, and will place itself clearly outside the international law”, warns the Chilean media.