Morocco: Three years in prison for 13 migrants for the deadly attempt to invade Melilla

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The 13 were sentenced in August to 30 months in prison for participating in a criminal organization of traffickers, illegally entering Morocco, and violence against security forces.

A Moroccan appeals court handed down tougher sentences to 13 illegal immigrants convicted of last June’s attempted invasion of the Spanish enclave of Melilla, which turned into bloodshed.

As defense lawyer Barek Beurig told AFP, the appeals court in Nador (northeast) added another three months to the sentence imposed on them at first instance, sentencing them to three years in prison.

The 13 were sentenced in August to 30 months in prison for participating in a criminal organization of traffickers, illegally entering Morocco, and violence against security forces.

He was among an estimated 2,000 irregular migrants who in June tried to force their way into the Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Morocco.

In the bloody incidents that broke out, 23 migrants were killed, according to the Moroccan authorities. The Moroccan Union for Human Rights (AMDH) reported 27 dead.

Amnesty International called the bloody crackdown a “mass murder” and accused Rabat and Madrid of trying to cover up the truth.

It was the deadliest toll ever recorded as countless migrants from sub-Saharan Africa attempted to enter the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta, which form the EU’s only land borders on the African continent.

Dozens of illegal immigrants arrested during the June riots have since been sentenced to up to three years in prison.

RES-EMP

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