Gory details and graphic images have emerged on social media of how Moroccan and Spanish authorities massacred African migrants who were trying to force their way through the Melilla border fence, a place described as the only EU land border with Africa.
The appalling and barbaric treatment left at least 37 African migrants massacred by Spain’s Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government, working with Moroccan police acting as the European Union’s border guards at the Melilla border fence with more than 150 more said to have been critically injured.
While some were said to have been directly massacred by the Police who hit them with stones and batons others may have died after falling from the border fence which rises to between 6 and 10 meters in height.
On Friday about 2000 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries of Chad, Niger, Sudan, and South Sudan said to be potential asylum seekers according to international law attempted to go through the iron fence after cutting an opening with shears.
African Union Commission – AUC Chairperson H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat while expressing shock at the violent treatment of African migrants at the Morocco-Spain border, also described it as degrading and called for an immediate investigation into the matter.
The AUC Chair also reminded all countries of their obligations under international law to treat all migrants with dignity and to prioritize their safety and human rights, while refraining from the use of excessive force.
Also, reacting, the Human Rights Watch, called for an independent, impartial investigation capable of determining what occurred and who bears responsibility for such loss of life with a view to ensuring accountability and justice for the families of the victims.
While calling on the Moroccan and Spanish authorities as well as the UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, and the African Union for an inquiry the Human Rights however said it is deeply disturbed by the pictures it obtained from the official Twitter account of the Moroccan Human Rights Association or AMDH (the Association Marocaine des Droits Humains) of what it estimated were between 16 and 21 graves being dug in the Sidi Salem Cemetery, on the outskirts of Nador, the Moroccan town across the border from Melilla which is suggestive of plans to want to hastily conduct a mass burial.
The pictures posted on Twitter by AMDH at 1:01 p.m. local time on June 26 showing the freshly dug graves according to the Human Rights Watch depicts it matching the shape of the perimeter of the cemetery, as well as buildings, trees, and landscape seen in the background with satellite imagery, and which has also been published by the Spanish daily El País of the exact cemetery in Sidi Salem.
The HRW however cautioned that it is vitally important for the Moroccan authorities to make every effort to preserve the bodies in a dignified and appropriate manner to allow for autopsies and verification of the cause of death, the Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch, therefore, called the attention of authorities to do all they can to identify the dead and inform their families, and that it is incumbent on the part of Morocco to organize the transfer of the deceased to their families for burials in accordance with their wishes and that survivors too deserve appropriate health care and psychosocial – mental health – support.
