The Criminal Chamber of the National High Court has denied the extradition of a Moroccan citizen who was arrested in 2024 in Lanzarote with an international warrant from Interpol, to whom the commission of a crime against the rights of foreign citizens was attributed for allegedly organizing boat trips from the island.
The Chamber has agreed to deny his extradition, requested by Morocco, coinciding with the criteria of the Prosecutor's Office and the defense of the detainee, who argued that the minimum penalty requirement was not met. In Spain, to be extradited, legislation sets the minimum deprivation of liberty at two years.
In this case, the Spanish Penal Code states that the crime against the rights of foreign citizens is punishable by fines ranging from three to twelve months, or imprisonment ranging from three months to one year. On the contrary, Moroccan legislation classifies it as a crime of organizing illegal emigration with a maximum penalty of twenty years of deprivation of liberty.
On November 18, 2025, the hearing to decide on this extradition was held before the Central Court of First Instance, in Section 3 of Instruction. The requested person argued that he did not consent to be extradited. After this, the investigating body referred the case to the Criminal Chamber of the High Court.
Following the arguments of the defense and the Prosecutor's Office, the judicial body ordered the provisional release of the detainee and rejected his extradition. Furthermore, it lifted the precautionary measures that were imposed on the requested person during the processing of the proceedings and sent the testimony to the Deputy Directorate General for International Legal Cooperation of the Ministry of Justice and to the Interpol service.
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