Spanish court acquits Moroccan after 15 years behind bars without compensation or apology

A Moroccan man, Ahmed Tommouhi, who spent 15 years locked up for rapes he didn’t do, has had another wrongful conviction thrown out by Spain’s highest court.

But even after 34 years since his ordeal began, Tommouhi hasn’t received an apology or any money for the time he lost.

According to theSpanish daily newspaper Vozpópuli, Tommouhi, now 74, came to Spain from Morocco to work as a builder in 1991.

Six months later, he was arrested because he looked very similar to the man who actually committed a series of rapes. Victims pointed him out in a lineup, and that mistaken identity was the only reason he was convicted.

He served 15 years in prison. While he was inside, the real rapist, Antonio Carbonell García, was caught in 1995 after more rapes happened in the same way.

Thanks to the work of journalist Braulio García Jaén, crucial evidence (semen found on a victim) that proved Tommouhi was innocent was finally looked at.

This evidence was key for the Supreme Court to cancel his convictions, first one in 2023 and now another one on May 5th.

Despite being proven innocent multiple times, Tommouhi’s attempt to get compensation money (around 3.6 million euros) was rejected by a lower court.

His lawyer says they will keep fighting, going to higher courts if needed, to get justice for the years he wrongly spent in prison.