Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Moroccan authorities prevented Luis Mangrane, a Spanish jurist, from entering Laayoune on January 14.
Spanish news outlets reported that Mangrane aimed to attend the January 16 trial of Brahim Dehani as an international human rights observer.
Read Also: Western Sahara: Everything You Should Know About Morocco’s Autonomy Plan
The news outlets claimed that Dehani was arrested on December 4 while covering a demonstration in the region.
Earlier this month, Moroccan law enforcement in Laayoune also expelled two Spanish pro-Polisario activists who claimed they were there for New Year’s Eve.
Read Also: Morocco Expels 2 Pro-Polisario Spanish Activists from Laayoune
Patricia Ibanez and Irati Tobar were found at the house of Hassana Aalia, who is living in exile in Spain. Aalia received a life sentence in absentia for his involvement in the Gdeim Izik incident, when Sahrawis at a camp near Laayoune clashed with Moroccan police resulting in the death of at least 11 Moroccan officers and the injury of 70 others in 2010.
Read Also: Facts about Western Sahara Conflict that You Should Know
Authorities expelled the Spanish activists to Agadir, explaining that they could visit Laayoune but “not staying with a family.”
“We tried to talk to them and explain, but there was no way,” Ibanez said.
