The Moroccan Justice has prosecuted 52 people for their alleged involvement in the irregular crossings of migrants to Ceuta and Melilla during the migration crisis of the last few days. All those investigated remain in preventive detention, while the judicial proceedings opened by the country's authorities progress.
According to the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) and confirmed by RTVE, 11 young people have been placed at the disposal of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal of Nador, while another 41 people, including two minors, have appeared before the Court of First Instance of that same city.
Some of the detainees are being investigated for criminal offenses, although the Moroccan authorities have not detailed the specific charges against each of them at this time.
The AMDH questions the judicial response
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights has expressed its concern about the development of these judicial actions and believes that the authorities are resorting to a "mainly security and repressive" approach to address the migratory phenomenon.
The organization argues that the response should also focus on the structural causes that lead many young people and minors to attempt to emigrate and has demanded that all procedural guarantees be respected during judicial proceedings, especially in a context marked by the lawyers' strike affecting the country.
Rabat maintains its explanation about the crisis
The prosecution of these 52 people coincides with the position maintained by the Moroccan government since the beginning of the migration crisis.
The Ministry of the Interior of Morocco argues that the massive arrival of people in Ceuta did not respond to a spontaneous phenomenon, but to a combination of misinformation spread on social networks, the actions of human trafficking networks, and the misinterpretation of the recent ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court regarding the returns of people intercepted at sea.
According to Rabat, that information would have generated among many young people the belief that those who managed to reach Spanish territory could not be returned immediately, a circumstance that would have contributed to triggering the migratory avalanche.
Differences over the victim balance
While investigations continue on both sides of the border, differences also persist regarding the number of fatalities recorded during the crisis.
The Spanish authorities maintain an official balance of 80 deceased in waters near Ceuta, while the NGO Caminando Fronteras raises that figure to 141 dead, including bodies recovered in Moroccan territory. For its part, Morocco officially maintains that 11 people died during the episodes recorded at the border.
The judicial investigation opened in Morocco adds to the actions undertaken by the Spanish authorities to clarify the circumstances surrounding one of the largest migration crises recorded at the southern border of the European Union.