The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has defended the need for an international investigation into the June 24 deaths of dozens of migrants attempting to cross the Melilla fence after the Spanish justice system closed the case.
AMDH has expressed its disappointment at the decision of the Spanish courts to shelve the investigation proceedings. «I thought that justice in Spain was much more independent than justice in Morocco,» AMDH spokeswoman Jadiya Ainani lamented, speaking to RFI radio station. «We were surprised by this decision.
«The Spanish state and the Moroccan state do not want the truth to be known,» she reiterated. This is why Ainani has called for an international investigation because she considers that it will be difficult to be investigated in view of the current context of rapprochement between Madrid and Rabat.
Meanwhile, the AMDH section in the city of Nador has denounced that the Moroccan authorities have prohibited the celebration of an act in memory of the deceased migrants.
The AMDH explained that they had requested authorization for a rally on the occasion of the celebration of International Migrants Day on Sunday, December 25, under the slogan «Dignity, freedom and justice for all migrants».
«According to the program, it was planned to organize on Sunday at 11.00 a.m. a concentration with candles in front of the passage of Chinatown, because of the symbolism of the place that bears witness to the bloody events in which so many migrants and asylum seekers have died,» the organization has indicated.
It would also serve «to condemn the murderous migration policies of Morocco and the countries of the European Union, in particular Spain, and in solidarity with the victims».
For the NGO, the ban «confirms the persistence of the State in hiding those responsible for the tragedy and the continuing policy to stifle all free voices demanding truth and accountability».
In this sense, the AMDH-Nador «reaffirms its intention to continue working in the monitoring and denunciation of all violations of the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and all human rights and demands that the Moroccan State ceases to play the role of gendarme in the service of murderous migration policies».
The rally should have been held the day after the publication of the AMDH report on the sentences imposed on dozens of migrants following the events of June. The text denounces violations of migrants’ rights.
Thus, during the arrests and hearings, neither interpreters nor lawyers were present. In addition, the police reports were «copy-paste» in which only the name and nationality of each migrant was changed, according to the group.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
