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Fez – Five Yemeni refugees successfully set out last week to swim from Morocco to Ceuta, one of Spain’s enclaves in northern Morocco, three of them arrived on Saturday in Ceuta and two others on Sunday.
But Spain had already expelled two of the five on Saturday, December 4, according to reports.
As has been the case with most people who have made it to Ceuta in recent weeks and months, the two Yemeni refugees were forced back to Morocco as soon as they crossed to the Spanish enclave.
A video shared on Twitter by the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) shows the Spanish border guards fire tear gas at the two Yemeni refugees as they reached Ceuta.
After Moroccan police refused to let them into Moroccan soil, explaining that they had to return to Spain, the refugees spent one night in the no-man’s land between Morocco and the Spanish enclave.
In a statement on Sunday, AMDH called out Spanish authorities for expelling two of the five Yemenis “despite their status as asylum seekers.”
Ceuta authorities are reported to have relented on their initial position amid public pressure, with reports that the two Yemenis have finally been taken in by the Temporary Residence Center for Immigrants (CETI).
Read also: HCP: More than Half of Refugees in Morocco are Syrians
The case of the two initially expelled Yemenis is one of many similar incidents and reports of the mistreatment of asylum seekers and distressed irregular migrants by the Spanish border guards.
But both the Spanish ministry of interior and the government delegation in Ceuta have strongly denied any involvement in the reported incidents.
In November, AMDH expressed its concerns about a Spanish civil guard’s treatment of asylum seekers. The NGO accused Spanish authorities of being behind the arresting, torturing, and throwing to the sea of two Yemenis near Melilla.
One of the two Yemeni refugees, Mutassim Karim, drowned while trying to swim his way back to Morocco, according to the NGO. AMDH reported that the Civil Guard deprived the two of all their swimming materials and forced them to go back to Morocco.
The other Yemeni, Ibrahim Mohamed, made it safe to Morocco and reported their “mistreatment” by Spain’s Civil Guards. Mohamed said his friend Mutassim had fainted when Spanish police threw them back into the water.
He said the image of his drowning friend will never leave his mind, explaining, “A traveling friend always takes the place of a brother.”
