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Rabat – The Spanish border authorities have urged maritime transport firms to withhold their services to members of the Polisario Front seeking asylum in Spain.
Previously, Spain has provided separatists with residency cards, according to Moroccan newspaper Akhbar Al Yaoum.
News outlets affiliated with the separatist group claim that the decision is intended to pressure companies to prevent them from selling travel tickets to the Polisario members awaiting asylum decision from the Spanish government.
According to Moroccan media, Spanish sources say the decision reflects “Spain’s refusal to grant temporary residence permits, which was a privilege for those coming from the Tindouf camps, after deciding to discontinue providing political asylum to Sahrawis.”
In August 2017, Spain refused to grant political asylum to 54 separatists from the Tindouf camps. When Spain refused to allow them to enter, the separatist group organized a sit-in in the Barajas airport in Madrid to denounce Spain’s decision, according to Al Quds news outlet.
Two of the 54 the Polisario members arrived from Cuba, where they were studying medical studies, while the other 52 separatists arrived in Spain via Algeria.
According to Al Quds news outlet, Spanish authorities rejected 41 out of 54 political asylum applications. One of the members returned to Algeria, while the other twelve, who were granted asylum, organized a hunger strike in solidarity with their companions.
The leader of the Polisario-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is also a subject of an international arrest warrant, issued by Spain for crimes against humanity.
According to Tindouf.org, “the Spanish justice is prosecuting Ghali, for ‘genocide, torture, forced disappearances, illegal detention and serious violations of human rights” committed in the Tindouf camps.’”
Several members of the separatist front, including SADR’s “prime minister,” Mohamed Ouali Akeik, were also involved in terrorist acts committed against Spanish citizens at the Phosboucraa site in Laayoune in the 1970s. .
The attacks resulted in the death of soldiers and the kidnapping of Spanish citizens.
Polisario’s attacks on the phosphate conveyor belts occurred in Laayoune between 1974 and 1976. The front attacked conveyor belts in an attempt to stop phosphate mining. Around the same time, Polisario also engaged in violent attacks on Spanish fishing vessels, the Moroccan army, and French nationals.
