Amnesty International documents new aggressions against migrants in Ceuta and denounces the inaction of Defense

BarcelonaA new investigation by Amnesty International has documented about thirty new cases of mistreatment of migrants in Ceuta by the military in recent weeks, despite the Ministry of Defence's announcement to open an investigation into previous cases of "torture". The organisation, which made the information public this Thursday, has reported up to 28 new cases of beatings, humiliations, vexations, and abuses by members of the Spanish armed forces against migrants who are still in the autonomous city after the mass entry from Morocco on the 30th and 31st of July. Among the victims are 13 minors. With these, there are now 50 cases of mistreatment documented and reported by Amnesty International, some of which could "constitute torture due to their severity," according to the organisation.

According to the NGO's new report, 18 of the 28 new documented cases have taken place after the Ministry of Defence announced that it would open a new internal investigation following Amnesty International's first complaint and the publication of the images and audio recordings in which the beatings and vexations against migrants by the military deployed in Ceuta were documented, disseminated by Eldiario.es. Amnesty International points out in this new report that the mistreatment has not ceased, but quite the opposite. "They are persistent and show the impunity with which the perpetrators of human rights violations have acted and continue to act," they explain.

In fact, Amnesty International has addressed the Ceuta Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Defense and, at this time, the organization states it has no record of any specific military personnel being investigated or removed from duty, nor that protection against possible reprisals has been granted to victims or witnesses in the face of these "human rights violations".

Amnesty International states that it has been able to speak with several witnesses, who have indicated having suffered "frequent beatings and assaults" by military personnel. Among the practices reported, the organization explains that the most common are "punches, kicks, blows with batons, and even the use of tasers". In some cases, they state, the victims "were defenseless sleeping on the street". In this sense, the organization explains that it has once again documented graphically and audiovisually bruised bodies with lesions that seem compatible with blows from rigid defenses, kicks, fractures to limbs—especially the legs—and head trauma presenting wounds requiring stitches.

Criminal and disciplinary responsibilities

In addition to the new attacks by members of the Spanish armed forces documented by Amnesty International, the report also collects seven cases of ill-treatment by the National Police and the Civil Guard. The newly documented attacks were obtained after the organization's last visit to Ceuta between October 23 and 26. For this reason, the NGO has requested a prompt, diligent, impartial, and exhaustive investigation into the documented abuses and has asked to "cautiously remove" the members of the Spanish armed forces involved and determine the corresponding criminal and disciplinary responsibilities.

Three months after the mass jump of migrants in Ceuta, it is estimated that at least 3,000 adult migrants and 500 unaccompanied migrant minors could still be sleeping on the streets of the autonomous city.

High-ranking Moroccan police officials

The General Information Commissariat of the National Police has delivered a report to the judge of the National Court investigating the mass entry of migrants into Ceuta, to which ARA has had access, analyzing five videos from media outlets and open sources from the day of the events.

The images have made it possible to identify two "high-ranking Moroccan police commanders" with "competence in public order and security" near the border crossing in Fnideq, close to the Tarajal land border with Spain. They are Mohamed El Oualidi, the Police Prefect of the Tetuan region, and Abdel Fattah El Sayed El Radi, the general supervisor of M'diq-Fnideq. Both are part of the "highest rank in the operational chain of command" of the security device deployed by the Moroccan authorities on July 30 and 31.

In one of the sixteen-second videos, Mohammed El Oualidi is observed in uniform "giving instructions" to several immigrants, "gesturing with his right arm and pointing the direction in which they must head."