The Second Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court in Spain has denied the extradition of a Moroccan national who was sought by Moroccan authorities for alleged involvement in serious crimes, including homicide, organizing clandestine emigration resulting in death, human trafficking, and membership in a criminal organization related to a tragic migration attempt towards the Canary Islands. The court concluded that the events for which Morocco requested the extradition had already been adjudicated in Spain, thus fulfilling the legal grounds that prevent extradition.
This ruling, issued on February 24, 2026, addresses the extradition procedure initiated against a Moroccan citizen born in 1977. His extradition was requested by the Kingdom of Morocco based on an international arrest warrant issued on July 14, 2022, by the investigating judge of the Beni Mellal Court of Appeal. The Moroccan authorities provided documentation indicating that the request stemmed from a complaint filed with the King’s Prosecutor by a relative of one of the migrants who had been aboard a clandestine vessel aiming to reach the Canary Islands. The complaint alleged that the accused had planned the journey and acted as the captain of the boat carrying several young individuals from the Moroccan Sahara coast to the Canary archipelago.
The complainant asserted that his brother, a sailor from the city of Dakhla, had boarded a wooden boat with other youths intending to reach the Canary Islands. He later learned that the journey ended in tragedy, resulting in the deaths of some passengers at sea. According to the extradition request, the vessel became adrift after running out of fuel, food, and water, and the GPS system malfunctioned. In those dire circumstances, one of the passengers attempted to navigate the boat following the captain's instructions, which led to a dispute with other occupants that culminated in an assault against that individual. Two days following this incident, the man died, and his body was disposed of in the ocean. The complainant further noted that several passengers perished during the crossing, while others went missing.
Additionally, the proceedings included testimonies from other family members who claimed that their children had also attempted to clandestinely emigrate to the Canary Islands aboard the same boat, becoming stranded at sea after depleting their supplies, which allegedly resulted in fatalities and disappearances among the passengers.
The court's resolution scrutinized the requirements stipulated in the extradition agreement between Spain and Morocco, signed in Rabat on June 24, 2009. It affirmed that, generally, the actions described by the Moroccan authorities would also constitute crimes under Spanish law, specifically criminal organization, homicide, and offenses against the rights of foreign citizens. However, the court emphasized that these events had already been judicially examined in Spain. Specifically, it recalled that the accused had been convicted by the First Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on March 30, 2022.
This prior ruling established that on the night of October 5, 2020, a boat with 26 individuals departed from the coast near Dakhla, aiming to reach the Canary Islands. The vessel was captained by the accused, who had assistance from another individual operating the GPS system. The journey aimed to transport the migrants to the Canary shores, despite the boat lacking the necessary safety measures for an ocean crossing. During the journey, the motor suffered continuous breakdowns, and the GPS system failed, causing the vessel to drift for 14 days. The boat had only been provisioned with food, water, and fuel for four days, leading to a dire situation where occupants ran out of supplies.
As a consequence of the lack of food and water, fifteen of the occupants died during this period, and their bodies were thrown overboard by the survivors. Ultimately, on October 19, 2020, the survivors were rescued by the merchant ship Wadowice II and subsequently transferred to a Maritime Rescue vessel. Tragically, one more individual died after the rescue and was taken to the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. For these events, the Provincial Court of Las Palmas convicted the accused of an offense against the rights of foreign citizens and sixteen counts of negligent homicide, determining that the journey had been organized on an unseaworthy vessel lacking adequate safety measures.
In its recent ruling, the court concluded that there is a "full identity between the facts subject to the request and those that have been adjudicated and resulted in a conviction by the Spanish jurisdiction," thereby invoking the denial clause outlined in Article 8 of the extradition agreement between Spain and Morocco, which prohibits extradition when the facts have already been judged in the requested state. Consequently, the court has decided to "declare the extradition requested by the judicial authorities of the Kingdom of Morocco as inadmissible" concerning the citizen sought.
The resolution is not definitive and can be contested through an appeal before the full Criminal Chamber of the National Court within three days from its notification.
As reported by canarias7.es.
