MEPs expelled from Morocco after detention at airport

Three members of the European Parliament were detained for more than an hour on Thursday at the airport of El Aaiún, the main city of Western Sahara, where they had travelled to verify compliance with a recent ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The Court had suspended the implementation in Saharawi territory of the agriculture and fisheries agreements between the EU and Morocco.

After being refused permission to disembark, the three MEPs were forced to stay on the plane and sent back to the Spanish island of Gran Canaria. Their trip had been organised in collaboration with the Polisario Front, recognised by the United Nations as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people. The territory of Western Sahara is de facto controlled by Morocco, but its international status still disputed.

One of the MEPs, Isabel Serra of the leftist Unidas Podemos party, shared a video on her Instagram page showing how an alleged Moroccan agent pushed her and blocked her exit from the plane. All three lawmakers sit with the Left group in the European Parliament.

"A person climbed the stairs of the plane and had placed himself on the door," Serra told Euronews in an interview by video link. "He told us that we were 'persona non grata', without identifying himself.

"We kept asking why, but we did not receive any explanation. At the same time, there were other people, in civilian clothes, on the airstrip, talking to each other and laughing at us."

"Their aim was to prevent us from seeing what is happening in the occupied territory, how Morocco is exploiting the resources, and prevent us from meeting human rights associations and from defending the Saharawi cause," Serra said.

The trio of MEPs was indeed scheduled to meet with various human rights groups and Saharawi associations, including representatives of relatives of political prisoners, in the framework of a personal trip not officially recognised as parliamentary mission.

In her view, Serra and her fellow lawmakers were targeted because the Moroccan authorities are aware of their strong positions on the Saharawi cause.

The Spanish MEP also denounced the lack of support from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was contacted by her party during the detention at the airport. Several Spanish police agents were present on the plane, tasked with repatriating a number of Moroccan citizens to their country of origin. "But they said they could not intervene as they had no jurisdiction," Serra said.

The Spanish lawmaker said that she and her colleagues would each file complaints with their governments and to the EU institutions. "Will we ask the President of the European Parliament to hold Morocco accountable for violating our right to enter that territory and monitor human rights. We will also ask for a meeting with the President of the Council António Costa and the High Representative for External Affairs Kaja Kallas."

The expulsion of the MEPs follows a series of similar incidents in Western Sahara. So far this year, Morocco has prevented from entering and expelled several political representatives and journalists from the territory.

In a recent incident, journalist Asier Aldea Esnaola and youtuber Rama Jutglar, better known as Ramilla de Aventura, were detained for several hours at Casablanca airport.

The Moroccan authorities confiscated their passports as they tried to travel to Dakhla, a coastal city in Western Sahara, before expelling them from the country. Both denounced the incident through a video posted on social media.