Amnesty accuses Spain, Morocco of cover-up in Melilla deaths

Amnesty International has accused Spain and Morocco of failing to properly investigate the events that led to the deaths of over 20 migrants and refugees at the border of the Spanish enclave of Melilla in 2022, on the eve of the first anniversary of the tragedy.

"One year on from the carnage at Melilla, Spanish and Moroccan authorities not only continue to deny any responsibility but are preventing attempts to find the truth. Bodies are still lying in a morgue and in graves and efforts to identify the dead and inform their relatives have been blocked," Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said in a statement on Friday.

On June 24, 2022, a stampede broke out during a clash with Moroccan and Spanish security forces as nearly 2,000 migrants and asylum-seekers from sub-Saharan Africa attempted to cross from Morocco to Spain by climbing over a fence.

Some 37 people were killed and 76 others continue to be missing, Amnesty International said.

Morocco said 23 people died in the incident, while Spain has said no deaths occurred on its soil.

Families in 'limbo'

The human rights group said that relatives of the dead and missing are "are trapped in limbo" as their attempts to find out what happened to their loved ones and efforts to ensure "justice, truth and reparation" are being "impeded in an apparent cover up by Spanish and Moroccan authorities."

"Barriers to truth and justice are also a reflection of the continuing harmful treatment based on race and migration status. Yet as hopes of finding the missing 76 alive recede, the demand on the authorities to provide truth and ensure justice for the victims and their families is growing ever louder," Callamard said.

Requests for information from Spain, Morocco unanswered

The human rights NGO said authorities in Spain and Morocco have failed to provide a complete list of victims' names and their causes of death or CCTV footage that could aid an investigation.

Spanish authorities refused to open an independent investigation, Amnesty International added.

In December, Spanish prosecutors dropped their probe into the deaths, saying that they did not find any proof of criminal misconduct by Spanish security forces.

"It cannot be concluded that the conduct of the [Spanish] security officers involved increased the threat to the life and well-being of the immigrants, so no charge of reckless homicide can be brought," the public prosecutor said at the time. 

The prosecutor's statement added that the migrants were "hostile and violent," and that Spanish security forces had "no reason to believe that there were people at risk who required help.''

Meanwhile, Amnesty International also said Moroccan authorities have not begun any investigation into the use of force by its border officials. It added that Morocco has made it "impossible" for families and NGOs to commence searches for the missing and dead.

"Amnesty International's written requests to the Moroccan and Spanish governments asking them to share information, have so far gone unanswered." the group said.

dvv/sms (Reuters, Amnesty International)