The Diplomat
Amnesty International accuses Spain and Morocco, in a report published yesterday, of committing “crimes under international law” on 24 June at the Melilla fence, where 37 sub-Saharan Africans were killed trying to enter Spain and 77 others are still missing.
Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said that despite “a growing mountain of evidence of serious and multiple human rights violations”, the Spanish and Moroccan authorities “continue to deny any responsibility for the Melilla massacre“.
Callamard added that “this smacks of a cover-up and racism, and rubs salt in already painful wounds“, and therefore considered it “fundamental” that both governments “guarantee the truth and justice for what happened that day to avoid it happening again”.
Based on eyewitness testimony, video and satellite images, the report, entitled “They beat him in the head, to check if he was dead: Evidence of crimes under international law by Morocco and Spain at the Melilla border”, details what happened when 2,000 people attempted to cross into Melilla through the ‘Barrio Chino’ border crossing.
