We point out the murder of a Sahrawi activist thrown into the sea in a boat heading for the Canary Islands

The Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has questioned the Government in Congress about the alleged murder of the Sahrawi activist Daha Mohemad Fadel Lehbib, whose family has reported that he was thrown into the sea from the boat with which he was trying to emigrate to the Canary Islands, in early May.

In the parliamentary question, which EFE has had access to, the deputy demands that the Government inform her about the measures being taken to investigate the events.

In the explanatory statement, Podemos states that on May 7, Daha Mohamed Fadel Lehbib, 35 years old, "an activist committed to the cause of the Sahrawi people, departed from the city of Bojador, in Western Sahara, on a boat bound for Gran Canaria." 

There were 62 people on board the boat, of Moroccan and sub-Saharan origin. 

According to the complaint filed with the Police and the courts of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria by his brother, El Uali Mohamed Fadel Lehbib, the boat was rescued by Maritime Rescue and its occupants were transferred to Arguineguín, but Daha was not among them.

His brother claims that a witness who was also on the boat told him that, during the journey, an altercation occurred between Daha, the captain of the boat, and his brother, after which both allegedly threw the Sahrawi citizen into the sea, abandoning him to his fate in the Atlantic waters.

Belarra asks "why Maritime Rescue has not activated any specific search and rescue operation to locate him, considering that the testimony of a survivor places the events in waters close to the Canary Islands and under Spanish responsibility in terms of rescue."

She also wants to know what specific actions the Police have taken to clarify the disappearance of Daha Mohamed Fadel Lehbib, identify those allegedly responsible for the events, and obtain statements from the 62 people who were on board the boat.

She also asks the Government if it considers that it has acted "in accordance with the obligations arising from Article 73 of the United Nations Charter and with the principles of protection of human rights and international maritime rescue in relation to the disappearance of a Sahrawi citizen from Western Sahara" and "on what basis does the Government affirm its compliance or, conversely, its non-compliance."

Likewise, Belarra requests information on whether the Government has maintained official contact with the Fadel Lehbib family to inform them about the actions taken and the reasons why a search operation was not activated or if it plans to do so, as well as whether it will ask the Prosecutor's Office to promote any judicial investigation or additional international coordination to clarify this alleged crime and assign responsibilities.

"The seriousness of the reported events demands immediate action by the Spanish authorities," states the text of the question, which considers that this disappearance occurs "in a context of special vulnerability and lack of protection for the Sahrawi population, subjected for decades to political persecution, social exclusion, and systematic human rights violations in the occupied territory of Western Sahara."

The victim's family has formally requested the Spanish authorities to investigate the facts, take statements from the survivors of the boat, identify those responsible, and activate the corresponding search and rescue protocols.

However, to date, there is no public record of the activation of specific Maritime Rescue resources for the location of Daha Mohamed Fadel Lehbib, nor any official information conveyed to his family about the actions taken," it states.