Judge reopens 'Ghali case' to declare Polisario leader's son in absentia
The judge who investigated the entry into Spain of the Polisario Front leader, Brahim Ghali, has reopened the case to declare in absentia his son, Luali Brahim Sid El Mustafa, suspected of searching Ghali with a false passport in a hospital in Logroño. He has also reopened the investigation to urge the Ministry of Justice to report on the status of the request for information sent to Algeria.
As reported by Europa Press, the head of Investigating Court Number 7 of Zaragoza, Rafael Lasala, has agreed to revoke the provisional dismissal at the request of one of the parties, who asked for these two steps to be taken, after which he announces that he will reopen the case.
The magistrate denounces that the Ministry of Justice, since 5 August 2022 - more than a year ago - formulated the commission to Algeria, "nothing has been known about its processing by the receiving authority, nor even about the course given by the Ministry of Justice, which makes it reasonable to accede to the request of the popular accusation".
"The Ministry should expressly indicate the date on which it was sent by the Ministry to the corresponding Algerian authority and, in the event that no action has been taken by the latter, reiterate as soon as possible the fulfilment of the request, informing of the reasons that prevent its fulfilment", Lasala points out.
On the other hand, with regard to Ghali's son, the judge recalls that on 7 December 2022, he agreed to summon him and find out his whereabouts, without success, so he has now declared him in absentia. Luali Brahim Sid El Mustafa was charged as the "indirect perpetrator" of the alleged crime of false documentation for having registered Ghali with a false passport at the San Pedro Hospital in Logroño to be treated for COVID-19, an event that caused a major diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco.
The suspicions are based on an interrogation of a worker at the medical centre who claimed that the son of the Polisario leader could have been in charge of registering him with false documentation under the name of Mohamed Benbatouche. For this reason, last April, the judge summoned Luali Brahim Sid El Mustafa as a witness.
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, has also been implicated in the 'Ghali case', although the Provincial Court finally ordered the investigation against her to be shelved for alleged crimes of prevarication and concealment after Ghali's entry into Spanish territory without passing through border controls or documentation.
