Confusion surrounding Moroccan man extradited by Spain to Germany

Youssef Al-Asrouti had a European arrest warrant issued by Germany and was arrested in Spain on 1 December and extradited on Wednesday 15 January via Frankfurt airport where he was handed over to German Federal Criminal Police officers for trial.

According to a statement from the German Public Prosecutor's Office, made public on Thursday 16 January, Youssef Al-Asrouti is suspected of having collaborated with Mohamed A., another agent recruited by Moroccan foreign intelligence who was sentenced in Germany on 31 August 2023 by the court of Düsseldorf (west) to a suspended prison sentence of one year and nine months for his role in this case, having spied since January 2022 on activists of the Hirak, a protest movement from the Moroccan region of the Rif (north of the country).

However, Youssef Al-Asrouti is known for his activity with regional extremist circles in Europe and is a member of the faction known as ‘The Republicans’, led in Düsseldorf by Jaber Al-Ghadawi, known as ‘Youba’, who is linked to Algerian intelligence.

The German authorities tried on several occasions to deport Youssef Al-Asrouti to Morocco because of his illegal stay in the country and after having rejected his request for political asylum. On one occasion, his violent opposition at a German airport prevented his transfer to Morocco. 

For some time, Al-Asrouti was involved in the radicalisation of the Rifian movement in support of its claims on the northern region of Morocco, with severe insults to King Mohammed VI and activities aimed at claiming the independence of this Moroccan territory with the aim also of gaining asylum and avoiding his deportation.

In March 2018, Al-Asrouti was arrested by German authorities due to his illegal residence and imprisoned in a refugee centre, pending his deportation to Morocco. He was released after a short period of imprisonment, having filed an asylum application in Germany through a lawyer he had appointed on his behalf, named Jaber Al-Ghadawi.

On 1 June 2018, Al-Asrouti published a message announcing his renunciation of Moroccan citizenship and refusing to swear allegiance to King Mohammed VI, in a further attempt to obtain political asylum.  

He also tried to obtain asylum in the Netherlands where he filed a new asylum application with the competent authorities, confirming that he was being persecuted in Morocco for his activity in the cause of the regional independence of the Rif.