4 elected Moroccan officials travel to Spain as irregular migrants

4 Moroccan officials arrived in Granada, southern Spain, at the weekend after setting out from Nador, with a group of irregular migrants aboard a makeshift boat, the news site, El Faro de Ceuta, reported citing a Moroccan digital news site ‘ariffino.net’.

According to El Faro, the departure of the politician had hit the local community hard.

“Behind those who escape from this country, there are cases of real hardship, but there are also professionals who leave jobs that gave them a stable income but who abandon Morocco because there is no future for them here,” the news site wrote.

Omar El Naji from the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) in Nador agrees that such incidents have a significant impact, the report added.

“The symbolism is strong. People ask themselves: ‘If an elected official leaves, why shouldn’t I, as a normal Moroccan, leave?'” Omar Naji told InfoMigrants.

He also confirmed that this is not the first time an elected official from Nador province has boarded a migrant boat to Spain.

“It’s true, there have already been four departures of municipal politicians to Spain in the past year and a half,” he said.

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