Almost three months. That is the time that had to pass for the Government to finally execute the precautionary measure of the National Court, of an urgent nature and immediate execution, which required it to transfer Basir, a young Sudanese victim of the crime, from Morocco to Spain. Melilla fence.
The 25-year-old refugee, who calls himself Basir in order to preserve his identity, landed in Barajas this week after requesting international protection at the embassy in Rabat, in Morocco, a year and a half ago. “I am very happy to achieve this victory for all refugees,” he expressed and thanked his lawyers for the “great work.”
His lawyers, Adilia de las Mercedes and Arsenio G. Cores, from DEMOS (Human Rights Law Firm) informed La Vanguardia this Thursday of his arrival in the country, where he will be able to make the long-awaited request for asylum under article 38 of the Law. of Asylum. “Basir’s victory is a very important precedent for refugees who request international protection in the diplomatic representations of Spain,” the lawyers have expressed.
On February 29, the Administrative Litigation Chamber issued an order favorably resolving the precautionary measure requested due to the danger of death and the risks that he would face (again) in Sudan, thus forcing the Administration to carry out his transfer. imminent to Spain. However, the Government ignored the execution.
The Court issued different notifications until on May 16, the Chamber gave an ultimatum to the Spanish ambassador in Morocco to promote his transfer within a “non-extendable period of ten days” and “urgently grant him safe conduct to travel to Spain.” ”. Likewise, he asked the embassy to pay for the plane ticket. Failure to comply with the above, within a period of five days, exposed the ambassador to coercive fines.
The lawyers have explained that “the Government’s delay has put Basir at risk and demonstrates a new action outside of legality and the rule of law.” They have also highlighted that, “legal avenues to access the right to asylum “still do not exist,” as Minister Grande Marlaska has reiterated in the Congress of Deputies and in the European Parliament.”
Basir is a survivor of the armed conflict in his country, Sudan, where he was persecuted for his religious beliefs since he was 14 years old, when his migratory journey began. The young man was one of the migrants who crossed the Melilla fence on June 24, 2022, in which at least 23 people died, and almost 80 are still missing today in one of the worst tragedies on the southern Spanish border. .
Although he made it through the fence, he was one of 470 hot returns that day. This is what the Ombudsman concluded after an investigation contrary to what the Ministry of the Interior always defended, that the “border rejections” occurred within the law. The truth is that if Basir had managed to stay in Spanish territory, today he would have been granted the right to asylum. Spain favorably resolves 100% of the requests from Sudanese, according to the latest provisional data from the Interior.
Basir’s arrival in Spain was highly anticipated, but it was not desired, as his own testimony has told this medium. His lawyers define the transfer as “revictimizing” in which “the human rights” of the refugee were violated again.
His transfer took place this week after “arduous and complex” coordination—as DEMOS defines it—with UNHCR, both in Spain and Morocco, as well as with the Consulate and Embassy of Spain in Morocco, and with the Ministry of Migration. The lawyers claim that they asked Migrations to meet with Basir “immediately upon his arrival in Barajas,” but “they determined that it was the Accem organization that was going to be in charge.” In turn, “they denied giving our phones to the NGO.”
According to his story, two police officers were waiting for him at the door of the plane, from where they called him over the public address system, thus revealing his identity, and ordered him to accompany them after checking his passport. “I didn’t know what was happening and they didn’t give me any clear explanation. “He was scared, especially when they refused to contact my lawyers,” he told La Vanguardia. That was the first of many times he insisted on calling them, and he always got no for an answer.
He says that the police took photos and fingerprints of him, without explaining the reason. “I didn’t know if they were going to take me to prison, if they were going to expel me or if something worse was going to happen to me.” Some moments that made him relive the “tortures suffered by police forces in countries like Algeria and Morocco.” The young man’s nightmare ended when he entered a unit managed by the NGO and “a social worker, seeing him terrified, agreed to call his lawyers and they were finally able to find his whereabouts after hours of intense searching.”
La Vanguardia has contacted both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Immigration to ask about this case and whether it is a normal procedure, but they have not wanted to make any type of statement.
After more than ten years on the run and without a safe haven since she was born, in the South Kordofan region, and without family, after being murdered before her eyes, Basir hopes to receive “the same respect and the same rights” as any other human being. “I want to feel safe and be free, away from racism.”
And remember: “Black refugees have the right to be treated the same as everyone else.”
