El Fórum Canario Saharaui pide poner bajo custodia al líder del Frente Polisario "para evitar que sortee la justicia"

The Saharawi Canarian Forum reiterated this Friday "the need to put Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front, urgently in police custody", who has been in Logroño since last April, in order to "prevent him from evading justice again". In addition, they ask for "official explanations" from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about his authorisation to enter Spain.

In a statement updated this Friday, 14 May, they report that more than three weeks have passed since the arrival in Logroño of Brahim Ghali, secretary general of the Polisario Front, "and despite the fact that little by little some doubts are being cleared up about what was an entry into the country full of trickery, but lacking in transparency on the part of the protagonist, the government and the Polisario, some unknowns about this shameful 'affair' still remain unclarified, as we have previously denounced".

At first glance, they explain in their letter, "although in our previous communiqué we applauded the first steps that the judiciary was taking with respect to the pending lawsuits filed in the Audiencia Nacional against Brahim Ghali, we note and regret that there have been few judicial movements in recent days regarding this issue, something that we hope will change in the coming days".

Furthermore, they continue, although they understand "that justice manages its own time, and that it does not always enjoy the desirable speed due to the relevant procedures that each case entails, we believe that in this case the particularities of the person in question should be taken into account".

"Both for the number of times he has evaded justice after being summoned, and for the way in which he entered the country", they point out.

The Fórum Canario Saharaui understands that "if he sneaked into Spain, avoiding as far as possible that his presence on Spanish soil would come to light, we are sure that he would do the same to leave the country using similar tricks once he has recovered".

It is for this reason "that we would like to remind once again of the need to urgently place the aforementioned Brahim Ghali in police custody, in the same San Pedro hospital in Logroño where he is currently in hospital, in order to prevent him from evading justice again, until the day of his statement before Judge Santiago Pedraz, scheduled in principle for 1 June in the Audiencia Nacional".

On the other hand, they continue in their communiqué, "we continue to have little or no information from the government about the event itself, as we also denounced previously".

In this sense, they explain, "although this week some media gave clues about Ghali's hermetic and stealthy entry, allegedly through the Zaragoza air base, we still lack official explanations from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about his authorisation to enter Spain, as well as the details of the alleged three-way agreement between the Spanish government and Algeria and the Polisario, the issue of possible false identities both when entering and registering at the Hospital, the reason for his transfer to Logroño or confirmation of whether Zaragoza was the airport".

As well as "many other details about his entry that remain invisible to the general public due to the veil of information imposed by the Government, and more specifically by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs".

In this sense, and despite the fact that there has been some slight movement from the Popular Party this week through its president Pablo Casado, "we note with some surprise and astonishment the little importance that this fact has had since its inception in the Spanish parliamentary arc within the political debate," say the Forum.

"Not in vain, using a close parallel (as far as the opacity of the case is concerned and saving the distances), we should not forget the importance of the so-called 'Delcygate' (the arrival in Spain of the Vice-President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, in 2020), with innumerable interventions and references in both Chambers by the opposition parties to the Government, as well as the dissemination in the media closest to them, and which even today continue", they affirm.

In this case, "it is surprising that the references to the event by these parties have been minimal, despite the well-known closeness of the Polisario Front to the regimes of Cuba or Venezuela, for example. Especially when we are talking about a person whose record of human rights violations has been called into question", they explain in their letter.

That is why "we demand that these parties request, through the corresponding committees, the urgent appearance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arantxa González Laya in Parliament, to give the appropriate explanations and answer the corresponding questions about this murky and suspicious case. It is absolutely essential to know her assessment of the facts in that seat, with the maximum public dissemination of the current situation of this event, which, if prolonged in time, threatens to cloud the good and necessary relations between Spain and Morocco, due to both the inaction and disdain of the Ministry in this matter, as well as the shadows that hang over it in terms of transparency".

Finally, "we wish to underline once again the shamelessness of the Polisario Front, issuing a statement virtually attributed to Brahim Ghali, and published in one of its official media (El Confidencial Saharaui) on the occasion of the feast of the end of Ramadan, Eid Al Fitr, and of which we do not really know its authorship since we assume that his state of health will not allow him to devote himself to these matters. In this publication, as well as attacking everything imaginable, the Polisario even criticised the Spanish press regarding Ghali's entry into Spain, saying that the Spanish media, La Razón, ABC, Europa Press, El Mundo, have all trumpeted this false news, tarnishing the reputation and professionalism of the Spanish security forces, to the delight of Morocco".

"It is not only surprising, but also embarrassing to read these statements. It should not be forgotten that the day this case came to light, the Polisario's communication apparatus spent the whole day playing 'cat and mouse' with Spanish media and journalists, including those closest to their positions", the Forum affirms.

Faced with the maximum news interest that day, "the Polisario's behaviour when it came to informing was insulting. From the fact that Ghali was in Algiers recovering from the COVID, or that he made a stopover in Spain after passing through Germany, to the fact that he was in the Tindouf camps, these were some of the lies they gave the consumer that day. Now they say that he has passed the critical stage and is recovering, we will soon know if it is another lie of the Polisario in this shameful 'Ghaligate'".