Mustapha Baitas, Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament and Government Spokesperson said the recent Melilla events were orchestrated, and took place under suspicious and unusual circumstances.
Baitas pointed out that available information shows that the operation “was the product of an orchestrated plan in an unprecedented manner, and took place outside the usual methods of irregular migration attempts.”
He added, in the press conference subsequent to the government council today that “the National Council for Human Rights initiated an exploratory mission in Nador and Melilla” following the incident.
Baitas pointed out that judicial investigations are still underway, and that “in order to preserve the independence of the judiciary, it is not possible to delve into the conclusions of these ongoing procedures at this time.”
On June 24, hundreds of irregular sub-Saharan migrants stormed the security fence separating Beni Ansar and the Melilla enclave, resulting in a stampede that killed 23 people and left 76 injured, and 140 wounded members of Moroccan law enforcement.
Since then, Moroccan judicial authorities have decided to prosecute 65 migrants, mostly Sudanese, for participating in the deadly attempt to force their way into the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco last Friday.
The prosecutor’s office of the court of the first instance in the Moroccan city of Nador, bordering Melilla, charged 37 migrants with “illegal entry into Moroccan soil,” “violence against law enforcement officers,” armed gathering” and “refusal to comply.”
However, the incident sparked major condemnation from human rights NGOs and activists, who called out European counter migratory policies for their brutality.
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