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Rabat – Hussein Bashir Brahim, a pro-Polisario activist, received a 12 year prison sentence for murder at the Court of Appeal in Marrakech on Tuesday, November 26, Spanish news outlet El Espanol reported.
The court charged the defendant for his involvement in the murder of Amazigh (Berber) student Omar Khaleq in 2016 in Marrakech.
Around 16 Sahrawis received sentences ranging from 3 to 10 years in prison in 2017 for their involvement in the killing of Omar “Izem” Khaleq during clashes between Sahrawi and Amazigh students at the Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences in Marrakech on January 23, 2016.
Bachir denied his involvement in the killing of the Moroccan student.
Read Also: On Omar Khaleq’s Assassination: Universities Are for Learning and Enlightening Minds
As well as Khaleq’s death, the clashes resulted in five injuries.
In January, having reached the Canary Islands in a “patera,” a small boat, the student applied for asylum. Within a week, Spain rejected his asylum request and deported him to Rabat on January 27. Morocco had also issued an arrest warrant for Brahim for his alleged involvement in the killing of Khaleq.
Spain is among the countries that deny asylum for Moroccan citizens because it classes the North African country as stable and safe for returning asylum seekers. The European country has an agreement with Morocco to repatriate unsuccessful asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.
