The Spanish lawyers of the former Algerian soldier Mohamed Benhalima filed a complaint against Spain before the UN after the repatriation in March of this ex-corporal, despite the risks of torture that he ran to return to his country.
The complaint, a copy of which AFP obtained on Thursday, was filed in early August by lawyer Eduardo Gómez Cuadrado before the UN Committee against Torture. “The Spanish government maneuvered in secret to obtain the repatriation of Benhalima despite the risks of torture that he could run by returning to Algeria“, can we read in the complaint.
Principle of non-discrimination flouted
The Spanish lawprohibits the extradition of a person if he runs the risk of being tortured or ill-treated, but also in the event of the threat of execution of a death sentence“, continues the text. The Committee Against Torture, founded in 2000, campaigns to compel authorities to investigate mistreatment by security forces and take action to end it. Formed by a group of independent experts who ensure compliance with the convention against torture, the committee publishes reports that are not binding.
“What we are asking is that Spain open an investigation into the type of interest that [Madrid] could have to expel Benhalima in such a rude way“Alejandro Gamez, another lawyer for the former soldier, told AFP. Furthermore, the council continued, Spain flouted the principle of non-discrimination by mixing “deliberately use the terms Arab, Muslim, radical, Islamist and terrorist to give the impression“that Benhalima was”dangerousand encourage his expulsion.
Diplomatic tensions
The Spanish government extradited in March Benhalima, a 32-year-old ex-corporal who had fled Algeria in September 2019 after taking part in Hirak, the anti-regime protest movement which had notably pushed former President Abdelaziz to resign. Bouteflika. Arriving in Spain, he requested asylum there and was sentenced in absentia in March 2021 in Algeria to 10 years in prison for rebellion. He has been behind bars since his return to Algeria.
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This expulsion took place in a context of diplomatic tensions between Spain and Algeria since Madrid publicly supported in March for the first time the Moroccan proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara, which is opposed by Algiers, which supports the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front.
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