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The Spanish Interior Ministry has refused to grant political asylum to a Sahrawi named Hafed Zergui. Spanish media reports state his application «does not meet the conditions required for examination».
The reason cited is that Zergui had previously submitted the same request to authorities in French Guiana, where he resided for a year. After his application's rejection and a stay in Mexico, he took a flight to Laayoune, with a brief layover in Madrid. Upon arrival at Barajas airport, he immediately applied for political asylum in Spain.
This refusal doesn't bar him definitively. His defense team can lodge an appeal with the courts as early as today, July 15. Notably, Sahrawi activist Mustapha Sid Zein, who arrived in Spain on the same flight as Zergui from French Guiana, received support from far-left Spanish MEPs, which helped his asylum request get examined by the Spanish Interior Ministry.
In a related incident, a letter from the Minister for Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego (United Left party), to her Interior colleague Marlaska (PSOE party) put a hold on the expulsion order for Youssef El Mahmoudi, who identifies himself as a Sahrawi activist. This week, Spain did expel an individual with a Mauritanian passport who claims to be Sahrawi and faces persecution by Moroccan authorities.
