Rabat – Rafael Lasala, the judge of the Brahim Ghali Case in Spain, has ratified the decision to extend investigations by another six months in order to focus on identifying those responsible for forging the Polisario leader’s documents.
Brahim Ghali was previously admitted to the San Pedro de Logrono hospital in Spain after using a fake passport that identified him as Mohamed Benbatouche.
Lasala justified his ruling, arguing that there is a need to ask the Algerian authorities if the passport Ghali presented was issued by Algeria, Spanish outlet La Razon reported. “There is no evidence the document is falsified until Algerian authorities verify it,” the Prosecutor’s Office has maintained
The possibility that various actors helped forge the document is another reason to extend the investigation, Lasala added.
The authorities also seek to question Ghali’s son to determine if he had a role in the falsification of his father’s documents.
The Zaragoza court had unsuccessfully tried to summon the Polisario delegation to Spain to probe further into the circumstances of Ghali’s entry into the country and his admittance into the hospital.
Lasala also expressed a desire to determine if Algeria had demanded any guarantees that Ghali would not be arrested.
Read also: Polisario’s Brahim Ghali Threatens Spain Over New Western Sahara Position
Ghali entered Spain in April 2021 to be hospitalized for COVID-19. Spanish authorities had allowed him to enter the country in secrecy, a move that stirred tensions with Morocco.
As Morocco claimed that the move was “against the spirit of cooperation and partnership,” a diplomatic rift developed between the two countries that lasted until late March this year, when Spain expressed support for Morocco’s autonomy plan over the Sahara.
