Amnesty Int'l slams Spain, Morocco over migrant deaths

Amnesty International said Tuesday that a failure by Morocco and Spain to properly investigate the deaths of more than 20 migrants at the border of Spanish enclave city of Melilla in northwest Africa in June smacks of a cover-up and racism. The rights organization said in a report presented in Madrid that there is a growing mountain of evidence of multiple human rights violations, including the unlawful death and ill-treatment of refugees and migrants. The deaths occurred when some 2,000 migrants stormed the Melilla border fence from the Moroccan side on June 24.

Amnesty International said Tuesday that a failure by Morocco and Spain to properly investigate the deaths of more than 20 migrants at the border of Spanish enclave city of Melilla in northwest Africa in June "smacks of a cover-up and racism." The rights organization said in a report presented in Madrid that there is a "growing mountain of evidence of multiple human rights violations, including the unlawful death and ill-treatment of refugees and migrants." The deaths occurred when some 2,000 migrants stormed the Melilla border fence from the Moroccan side on June 24. At least 23 died although rights groups say the number was higher. Spain denies its police units used inappropriate force and says there were no deaths on Spanish spoil. Morocco has been mostly silent on the issue. "Authorities on both sides have failed to ensure effective and transparent investigations in order to establish the truth about what happened that day," Amnesty said. "Families and expert organizations searching for the missing have been repeatedly impeded by Moroccan authorities." Amnesty said 37 migrants were killed and 77 others were still missing.

Prior to the Amnesty report, videos published in a joint investigation by NGO Lighthouse, Spain's El País and other media organizations showed the gruesome events of the storming.

Hundreds of men, some wielding sticks and other items, climbed over the fence from Moroccan and were corralled into a border crossing area. When they managed to break through the gate to the Spanish side, it appears a stampede led to the crushing of many people.

Moroccan police launched tear gas and beat men with batons, even when some were prone on the ground. Spanish guards surrounded a group that managed to get through before apparently sending them back.

The clash ended with African men, clearly injured or even dead, piled on top of one another while Moroccan police in riot gear looked on. Many were reportedly refugees from Sudan.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska maintained that the Spanish response by police was "appropriate" to handle a group of around 1,700 migrants who used clubs, sticks, axes and saws to violently force their way across.

"I know of no country that would accept a violent attack on its frontier," Grande-Marlaska said last month. Amnesty's report says the events of that day were predictable and loss of life avoidable. It says both Moroccan and Spanish authorities failed to provide prompt and adequate medical assistance to the injured.

The metal border fence surrounds Melilla, a town of 85,000 separated from Spain's mainland by the Strait of Gibraltar.

Melilla and its sister enclave of Ceuta have become crossing points for African migrants prepared to risk their lives to flee war and poverty. Spain's state prosecutors and Ombudsman's office have both opened probes into the Melilla incident. Human rights watchdog Council of Europe has also voiced concern.