Spain seeks to expel Barcelona attack convict to Morocco

Spain’s Interior Ministry had demanded expulsion of Said Ben Azza, convicted of the Barcelona assaults to Morocco, El Pais reported.

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior has requested permission from the National Court to expel Said Ben Azza from Spanish territory. He is one of the three people found guilty of taking part in the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils on August 17, 2017, and resulted in the deaths of 16.

Ben Azza was sentenced to eight years in prison for collaborating with a terrorist group. He has been on provisional release since September 2021.

aThe sentence of the Supreme Court finds that Ben Azza gave a van and its paperwork to the Ripoll terrorist cell so they could purchase explosive precursors.

Younes Abou Yaqoub was driving the van that drove over numerous pedestrians in Barcelona on August 17, he passed away a few days later after being shot by a mosso. Ben Azza did not actively take part in the assaults.

The General Directorate of Police declared that it has begun a disciplinary procedure for Ben Azza’s dismissal, according to Spanish media outlet Catalonia.

Ben Azza’s return to Morocco would make the Supreme Court’s mandated punishment impossible, according to José Antonio Bitos, an attorney for the USPAC union.

The lawyer stated that “Said Ben Azza’s expulsion would mean that his involvement in terrorist acts that resulted in 16 deaths and hundreds of injuries would go practically unpunished since he would have barely served half of the sentence.”

Ben Azza said throughout the trial that he did not work with the terrorists and that he only knew the group’s head, Mohamed Hichamy, and Younes Abou Yaqoub through their patronage of the butcher shop.

However, the National Court gave Ben Azza an eight-year sentence. When he had served half of his sentence, the magistrates decided to release him, but they also imposed several restrictions to stop him from leaving Spain and handing over his passport.