Spain denies sending police report to Morocco on human rights activist

Spanish police have denied knowledge of any file being sent to the Moroccan authorities regarding Spanish migrant rights activist Helena Maleno, who has been embroiled in a human trafficking case in Morocco. Morocco has investigated Maleno over her presumed connection with the trafficking of people for her warning calls to Maritime Rescue when there is a boat with migrant people adrift between Spain and the Moroccan coast.

The investigation against Maleno first began in Spain in 2012 by the Central Unit of Illegal Immigration Networks and False Documents (UCRIF), which the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office filed in 2017. However, the Spanish police sent the dossier on Maleno to the Moroccan authorities instead so that the investigation could continue there.

According to Spanish newspaper Publico, the Spanish government responded to a question from Basque Senator Jon Inarritu on the case by stating that it was not aware of any police report sent to the Moroccan authorities on Maleno. Inarritu took to Twitter to accuse the authorities of lying when, in fact, several reports were sent by UCRIF to Morocco.

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“The Spanish government maintains that it has no knowledge of sending a police report on Helena Maleno to Morocco,” Inarritu explained. “There is not one, but several reports of the UCRIF sent to Morocco. The government is lying in a parliamentary response.”

He claims that the case which the Moroccan judge investigated had already been filed by the Spanish courts in 2017. Around 60,000 letters were sent by Maleno’s supporters for the government of Mariano Rajoy to inform the Moroccan judiciary of the status of this case, but according to Maleno herself this has been ignored continuously.

The activist criticised the way that the Spanish government failed to inform Morocco that it was investigating a case that the Spanish justice system had already looked at and failed to find evidence of any crime being committed. Maleno fears that the case is part of a European strategy to “criminalise solidarity”.

“It is not only me who is judged,” she told HuffPost Morocco. “Europe sends the message that migration control is more important than life. The big losers will be human rights and migrants; this can have a catastrophic effect. I am opposed to irregular migration, but if someone calls me to tell me that his boat will sink and I do not warn the rescuers, I’m the criminal.”

Maleno added that she explained to the judge the European situation where several humanitarian workers are being persecuted for rescuing migrants at sea. She is currently awaiting a decision from Morocco about whether or not it will open criminal proceedings against her after appearing in court twice.