Rabat – A Moroccan man named Driss Aboufiras has died in Morocco after the Spanish government refused to repatriate him to Cadiz, southern Spain.
Aboufiras was an official resident of the Spanish city and worked there to send money to his family in Morocco. He was also undergoing dialysis treatment in Cadiz.
After becoming stranded in Morocco due to the COVID-19 border closures, Aboufiras called on the Spanish government to facilitate his repatriation for medical reasons.
The Spanish government refused his pleas. Spain’s policy on repatriation of nationals and residents stranded in Morocco does not cover those of Moroccan origin or dual nationality.
The Association of the Friends of the Moroccan People (ITRAN) has called for protests against the Spanish government’s policy, calling it “racism.”
“The Moroccan man [Aboufiras] had been calling for repatriation for a long time,” said the association’s president Mohamed Alami Susi.
“We begged for him to be repatriated on the April 3 flight,” Alami explained.
After dialogues with Rabat, Madrid has organized a number of repatriation operations, including two 170 passenger flights and a ferry crossing carrying over 700 Spanish citizens.
Alami said 579 Spanish citizens and residents of Moroccan origins have reached out to the association for help after finding themselves unable to return home.
He stressed that several of the cases “are very urgent.”
“Five women have already given birth there [in Morocco] and two women have lost their children,” he said.
The association has sent numerous emails to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs but has, as yet, received no reply.
In order to get justice for Aboufiras and the other dual citizens and residents unable to return to Spain, Alami and the association filed a legal complaint against the Spanish government at the Attorney General’s Office on May 14.
The complaint says Spain has refused to listen to the pleas of the association and accuses the government of “racial discrimination.”
