Eduardo González
In December 1779, the writer, historian, traveler and plenipotentiary ambassador of Morocco to Spain, Mohamed Ben Otoman Al Meknasi, decided to intercede for the life of an “unhappy” Spanish soldier who had been condemned to death in Cadiz for desertion. He finally succeeded, thanks to his good offices with King Charles III and the proximity of Christmas, which allowed the execution to be postponed just at the right time.
The Moroccan ambassador began his mission in Spain with the objective of obtaining the signing of the Aranjuez Agreement, a treaty of friendship and trade between Spain and Morocco that was signed on May 30, 1780 at the royal site of Aranjuez (Madrid) by the Secretary of the Office of State (Minister of Foreign Affairs in the language of the time), the Count of Floridablanca, representing Charles III, and by Ambassador Mohamed Ben Otoman, on behalf of Sultan Mohammed III. In addition to the signing of the agreement, as the prestigious Spanish Arabist and historian Mariano Arribas Palau (1917-2002) noted, Ben Otoman was dedicated to trying to obtain the freedom of numerous Muslim captives, especially Moroccans, held by the Spanish authorities.
It was in that same period when, during a visit to Cadiz, the ambassador received in December 1779 a letter signed by Juan de Sierra, father of the lawyer Antonio de Sierra, in which he requested Ben Otoman’s support to save the life of the soldier Jose de Ortega, of the Infantry Regiment of Galicia, who had been condemned to death in this Andalusian city for the crime of desertion.
In the letter, which was presented as the last resort to prevent what seemed inevitable, Juan de Sierra asked the “most excellent ambassador” (on behalf of his son) to place “under his protection” the “unhappy prisoner Joseph de Ortega, soldier of the Galicia Infantry Regiment, who for the crime of desertion was sentenced to the ordinary penalty of death”.
In response to the letter, the Moroccan ambassador immediately went to the captain general of the province of Cadiz to ask him to postpone the execution in order to give him time to get to Madrid to ask Charles III to pardon the prisoner. But there was a problem: by virtue of the Military Ordinance, the captain general lacked the authority to postpone the execution of a death sentence for too long.
Suspension for Christmas
However, “the proximity of Christmas, a time when the course of the cases was suspended, gave him a margin of time which, if taken advantage of, could give rise to the temporary suspension of the sentence, pending the King’s decision,” recalled Professor Arribas. In these circumstances, and to gain time, the lawyer advised the Moroccan ambassador, “if the pity of Your Excellency is dedicated to continue your protection for the benefit of this unhappy prisoner”, to make his intentions known to the Count of Riela, Minister of War, “in advance” and without waiting for his arrival in Madrid.
Juan de Sierra’s letter, dated in Puerto de Santa Maria on December 24, 1779, did not reach Ben Ottoman’s hands until a few days after his arrival in Madrid, which took place on January 12, 1780. Therefore, the ambassador arrived at the Villa y Corte (Madrid) without having made any previous request to the Count of Riela. Even so, the death sentence was not executed and the ambassador still had time to meet on January 21 at the Royal Palace of El Pardo (seat of the Court) with the Count of Floridablanca, whom he asked to mediate with the King to obtain a pardon.
Both this interview, as well as the letter sent the following day to Floridablanca with the same request (enclosing a memorial from the soldier condemned to death) and the subsequent delivery to the Secretary of State of Juan Sierra’s letter, bore fruit. Finally, Floridablanca personally discussed this matter with Charles III on January 30, 1780, during his dispatch with the King. The arguments of Juan Sierra and Mohamed Ben Otoman must have influenced the Monarch, who immediately ordered the Count of Riela to suspend the execution of the prisoner in order to give him time to make a definitive decision.
Finally, Charles III acceded to the request for pardon formulated by the ambassador and pardoned the life of José de Ortega, commuting his death sentence to ten years of service in a regiment in America. On March 30, 1780, Mohamed Ben Otoman went to El Pardo to express his gratitude to the Count of Floridablanca.
It so happens that Ortega was not the only beneficiary of the ambassador’s benevolence, since between June and July of the same year (and, therefore, already outside the context of Christmas) he again successfully interceded on behalf of the silversmith Vicente Torregrosa, condemned to death in Cartagena for having manufactured counterfeit currency. Ben Otoman, who had mediated to save the life of “this wretch” for the sake of “his extended family”, finally obtained a pardon for Torregrosa at the very last minute, when the prisoner was already in the chapel and about to be executed.
