Polisario Head to Appear at Spanish High Court Hearing on Tuesday

Head of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali. (AFP)
Head of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali. (AFP)
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Polisario Head to Appear at Spanish High Court Hearing on Tuesday

Head of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali. (AFP)
Head of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali. (AFP)

Head of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali will appear remotely from hospital before the Spanish High Court on Tuesday.

Ghali and other leaders of the group are accused by human rights groups and Western Sahara individuals of crimes including genocide, murder, terrorism and torture, the court document said.

Last month, Ghali entered a Spanish northern city under a false identity and with forged documents provided by Algeria. Madrid failed to inform Rabat, sparking the crisis.

Morocco and Spain traded new accusations on Monday in a diplomatic row triggered by the Western Sahara territorial issue that led this month to a migration crisis in Spain's enclave in northern Morocco.

Morocco's Foreign Ministry blamed Spain for breaking “mutual trust and respect”, drawing parallels between the issues of Western Sahara and Spain's Catalonia region, where there is an independence movement.

Spain “cannot combat separatism at home and promote it in its neighbor,” it said, noting Rabat's support for Madrid against the Catalan independence movement.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described Morocco's actions in appearing to relax border controls with the enclave of Ceuta as unacceptable and an assault on national borders.

The influx was widely seen as retaliation for Spain's decision to discreetly take in Ghali

“Remember that neighborliness ... must be based on respect and confidence,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.

Morocco's foreign ministry said in a statement that Spain violated good neighborliness and mutual trust and that migration was not the problem.

Rabat added that it has cooperated with Madrid in curbing migrant flows and in countering terrorism, which it said helped foil 82 militant attacks in Spain.

The case of Ghali “revealed the hostile attitudes and harmful strategies of Spain regarding the Moroccan Sahara,” the ministry said in a statement.

Spanish victims of terrorist acts perpetrated by Polisario separatists demanded the “immediate arrest of Ghali.”

The Spanish foreign ministry said he was being treated for COVID-19 and was transferred to Spain for “strictly humanitarian reasons.”

Separately on Monday, Moroccan websites published a text from the Spanish - Algerian archives documenting that Ghali was a recruit and worked as a spy for the Spanish Regional Police.

According to observers, the document is evidence that the Western Sahara region issue is not a matter of self-determination but rather “a case created by the Spanish and Algerian intelligence services to divide Morocco.”



EU Condemns Israel's West Bank Control Measures

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
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EU Condemns Israel's West Bank Control Measures

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)

The European Union on Monday condemned new Israeli measures to tighten control of the West Bank and pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, AFP reported.

"The European Union condemns recent decisions by Israel's security cabinet to expand Israeli control in the West Bank. This move is another step in the wrong direction," EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni told journalists.


Atrocities in Sudan's El-Fasher Were 'Preventable Human Rights Catastrophe'

Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Atrocities in Sudan's El-Fasher Were 'Preventable Human Rights Catastrophe'

Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese displaced people who left El Fasher after its fall, sit in the shade in Tawila at the Rwanda camp reception point on December 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

The atrocities unleashed on El-Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region last October were a "preventable human rights catastrophe", the United Nations said Monday, warning they now risked being repeated in the neighbouring Kordofan region.

 

"My office sounded the alarm about the risk of mass atrocities in the besieged city of El-Fasher for more than a year ... but our warnings were ignored," UN rights chief Volker Turk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

 

He added that he was now "extremely concerned that these violations and abuses may be repeated in the Kordofan region".

 

 

 

 


Arab League Condemns Israel's Decisions to Alter Legal, Administrative Status of West Bank

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Israel's Decisions to Alter Legal, Administrative Status of West Bank

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

The General Secretariat of the Arab League strongly condemned decisions by Israeli occupation authorities to impose fundamental changes on the legal and administrative status of the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in the West Bank, describing them as a dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of international law, international legitimacy resolutions, and signed agreements, SPA reported.

In a statement, the Arab League said the measures include facilitating the confiscation of private Palestinian property and transferring planning and licensing authorities in the city of Hebron and the area surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque to occupation authorities.

It warned of the serious repercussions of these actions on the rights of the Palestinian people and on Islamic and Christian holy sites.

The statement reaffirmed the Arab League’s firm support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the establishment of their independent state on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.