The Sahrawi activist detained in Loiu and who was to be deported on Friday, 5 July, at 15:00 p.m., has been released on the order of the Bilbao Guard Court. According to EiTB, the activist who has been held at Loiu airport for fourteen days is the 23-year-old Sahrawi Youssef Mahmoudi, who was summoned by the National Police on Monday to declare to "regularize" his situation. The President of Zehar Errefuxiatuak, Javier Galparsoro, said at a press conference that the Bilbao Guard Court, at 01:45 a.m. on Saturday, denied the Loiu Airport Police to “extend the situation of deprivation of liberty, the need to stay in any centre of foreigners and to stay in the Loiu Airport’s non-admitted room”. The association has stressed that the young Sahrawi, despite being at liberty, is in an irregular situation and that if detained, he can be deported.

According to EFE, Mahmoud jumped on Friday to the airline of Air Arabia heading to Tangier along with two agents, but the flight commander did not agree that the Sahrawis would travel there because the flight was not "safe". As a result, the Police requested an extension of the Saharawi ' s detention for 48 hours, and police sources have reported to EiTB that a further attempted deportation was made on Saturday, and if no other attempt was made on Sunday. The National Court rejected the young person's request for asylum, arguing that at present "there is no serious or imminent risk to the life or physical integrity of the claimant", but the young man "was afraid" of being deported to Morocco about his future.

History of Hassana Aalia

EITB has interviewed Sahrawis Youssef Mahmoudi and Hassana Aalia, who have participated in the EiTB Maratoia. Aalia is a Sahrawi activist from El Aaiun, Western Sahara, sentenced by the Moroccan military court to life imprisonment for her participation in the Pacific Camp Gdeim Izik, currently residing in Donostia-San Sebastian, as stated in an interview with Pressenza. Aalia obtained political asylum and said that Mahmoudi's situation "has made him remember" who lived it in 2015.

With regard to the occupied territories in Western Sahara, he stressed what it meant to leave the country and the family of each of them. Hassana Aalia has pointed out that he hopes that the young man, who has been detained for fourteen days, and his closest environment, will regulate his situation and thus be able to remake his life.

Statement by Minister Sira Rego

The Spanish Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, broadcast on Friday afternoon on social networks a message calling for “provisional access to Spain” for the young woman, “for humanitarian reasons”. At Thursday’s protests in Bilbao to denounce the situation of the Sahrawi activist, Javier Galparsoro also called for the Sahrawi to be provisionally incorporated “to then be able to further analyse the petition and have all the reports showing the persecution he has suffered”. However, according to Rego, the young man “has a history of solid persecution and contrasts with his activism as a student in defense of Western Sahara.”

The minister referred to Article 25.4 of the Aliens Act and Article 4.2 of the Aliens Regulations, which stipulate that “foreigners who do not meet the established requirements may be authorised to enter Spain” when “humanitarian, public interest or compliance with the commitments undertaken by Spain”. Rego cited the case of the Moroccan deportee Hussein Amadour, sentenced to 12 years in prison after being deported to Morocco, according to media outlet AraInfo in a statement.