"After the death of my friend Mutasim, I climbed the rocks that were set in the sea and moved up to the marina where I ran like a madman, indifferent to those sharp rocks and the cold." This is how a 31-year-old Yemeni immigrant from Sana’a concluded his talk to “Khuyut” about the details of the attack on them by the Spanish guard who threw his friend into the sea to die via drowning, during a dangerous smuggling journey that took off from Bani Ansar Beach (Bouqana) in the Moroccan city of Nador, to the city of Melilla, in Spain.
The Yemeni immigrant, who declined to be named - we will give him a pseudonym (Moataz) - Moataz says that in late November 2021, he went with two Yemeni friends to the beach of Beni Ansar (Bouqana), to try to cross to the Spanish city of Melilla. On the 20th of the same month, intruders entered the beach, fearing that they might fall into the hands of the Moroccan guards that prevented illegal migrants from crossing into the city which they were dreaming of breathing its air. The moment the three entered the beach to embark on their smuggling trip, the clock was pointing to half past six in the evening, so they decided to stay for another hour so that the soldiers would think that they were just picnicking. They had resolved to cross the sea, swimming to Melilla, in their swimming suits under their roaming clothes, and carrying a large backpack with swimming fins in it, and a small bag in which they had made some bottles of water and some chocolates.
Loss on the begging of the trip
After an hour of their stay on the beach - and the conversation is still with the young immigrant who miraculously survived the risks of this dangerous adventure, and decided to tell it to the press - “We tried to sneak into the sea, but the Maritime Security managed to arrest one of us, while Mutasim and I (26 years) could escape.” ". Mutassim came from the city of Aden, and his family's origins go back to Abyan governorate. After the arrest of their companion, he decided with Moataz to enter the sea immediately; “We quickly put our flippers in the sea, heading to the land of our dreams: Europe, and Melilla was one of the gates of that dream which unfortunately turned into a nightmare,” Moataz added.
Commencing the Journey
The two migrants spent an hour and a half among the dark and cold ocean, battling with the waves, until they reached the end of the berth, which was their first point. Then they climbed to the marina to take a rest, during which they ate some chocolate bars and drank some water, in an attempt to regain their activity under the very cold atmosphere. After a while, they observed and inspect the surroundings in anticipation of the presence of any boat or guard soldiers, and at that time they did not find any trace of those fears and warnings, so they went back to the sea again.
A Surprise happens
After having crossed about 700 meters in the sea in half an hour of swimming, which Mutassim's friend described as the moments that passed them effortlessly, interspersed with talk and laughter, forgetting the waves and the darkness and all the dangers in the sea, the unexpected happened when they suddenly saw a boat carrying a group of Spanish guards sailing towards them.
He continues, "We thought that it would go as usual, that we would be taken and returned to Morocco, with the possibility that we would be beaten lightly. However, the coastal guards stopped and took us on the board of their boat and beat us in a very violent way that I did not imagine."
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights confirmed that the Spanish guards violently beat the migrants and forced them to jump into the sea after they tore the life jacket of the late Mutassim Karim, who drowned
The migrants continued to tell the unfortunate story: “My friend Mutassim could not bear that beating, so he fell unconscious, and the soldiers continued to assault us and forcibly stripped us of our safety tools, and the swimwear that I and my friend was wearing, and threw us into the sea, about 50 meters away from the Moroccan coast".
He added that his friend "Mu'tasim" was still unconscious and the waves were high, while he was also exhausted and in a critical condition, and his desperate attempts and failing forces did not help him to pull his friend and save him.
His friend Mutasim could not resist and drowned in front of his eyes, while he was unable to do anything else for him but call for distress that no one heard. "After the death of my friend Mutasim, I climbed the rocks that were set in the sea and moved up to the marina where I ran like a madman, indifferent to those sharp rocks and the cold."
This was confirmed by the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, the branch of the Moroccan city of Nador, in a report on its Facebook page three days after the incident, where it said that two Yemeni asylum seekers were arrested at sea towards the Spanish city of Melilla by the Spanish guards who mistreated them badly.
According to the testimony of the Moroccan Association (AMDH), the Spanish guards violently beat the migrants and forced them to jump into the sea, after they tore the life jacket of the late Mutassim Karim, who drowned, calling on the authorities of the city of Melilla to open a serious investigation and punish those responsible.
The survivor continued by saying that after he ran towards the Moroccan city, he was received by a policeman in the city who took him to the police station, and they interrogated him and recorded his statements.
With great sadness, the young man explained that the Yemeni government did not take any measures in this regard, blaming it for the responsibility of bad living conditions which forced Yemeni youth to reach this situation in which "thinking about the hell of migration and its dangers has become more beneficial than living in a country that is subject to all tragedies." He adds that the body of the late Mu'tasim remained at sea for long time without any serious measures taken by Yemeni embassy in Morocco regardless the serious matter.
