Spanish Police affirm Brahim Ghali departure from Spain without passport

Local Police from Spanish city Pampelona have informed Judge Rafael Lasala that the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, left Spain at dawn on June 2, without carrying documentation or a passport.

Thursday, a report with more details about the departure of the Polisario Front leader, Brahim Ghali, from Spain to Algeria, was sent by the direction of the police of Navarre to the head of the 7th investigating court of Zaragoza, following an investigation into the circumstances of the arrival of Ghali in Spain, via the airbase of the Aragonese capital and of his departure from Pamplona airport, after receiving medical treatment at Logroño hospital.

In the new report, the police stated the details of Ghali’s arrival to Zaragoza. The Polisario leader was greeted in an ambulance with his personal doctor, Atba Mohamed Lamine, onboard waiting for him. At his side were two companions, Sidi Brahim Sidi Mohamed and Louali Brahim Sid.

Ghali and his three companions entered the airport in the ambulance. The police officers identified Ghali’s personal doctor, who showed a visa issued by France valid for the Schengen area, as well as two other companions, Sidi Brahim Sidi Mohamed and Luali Brahim Sid, both with Spanish passports, but Ghali said he had no documents.

“The fourth person who entered the airport compound in an ambulance – the report emphasizes – stated that he had no documentation, in the case of Brahim Ghali and claiming to be him, a statement corroborated by Mr. Lamine, his personal doctor”, stated the report.

The report ensures that none of these people had an impediment to leaving Spanish territory, not even Ghali. However, Ghali has been “authorized to leave the national territory, because it was a voluntary departure”.

According to the report, Ghali’s departure from Spain was legal thanks to an article of the regulation on foreigners of April 2011 which authorizes departures from Spain, “with defective documentation or even without”, if there is no legal impediment to the opinion of the police control services.

The head of the central investigating court number 5 of the National Hearing, Santiago Pedraz, who had questioned Ghali by videoconference a few hours before his departure had decreed “no precautionary or preventive measure for his departure from the Spanish territory”.

Ghali’s visit to Spain was at the center of the diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco. Morocco condemned Spain’s reception of Ghali, while accusing the Polisario’s leader of falsification of documents and terrorism.