Spain
Terror suspects expelled using immigration legislation
The Spanish newspaper El País reported on 30 May 2004 that two foreign nationals, at least one of whom is Moroccan, were expelled using the Ley de Extranjería (Aliens Law, Spain’s immigration legislation) because they were deemed to be a threat "to national security", and of being loosely linked to the 11 March 2004 bombings in Madrid. The two were described as people "against whom no criminal charges have been brought", but about whose activities the authorities have "clear knowledge". They will not be allowed back into Spain for ten years.
Police and Interior Ministry sources have been quoted as saying that this could be an effective way to combat Islamic terrorism, with a police official observing that:
"11-M is a watershed. What should we do when there
is a lack of evidence to charge a person, but all the available
evidence indicates that they knew about, encouraged or supported
terrorist activities?".
The use of immigration legislation to expel terrorist suspects
residing legally in Spain is a novelty, but it is expected to
become a more common practice because, according to an unnamed
Interior Ministry source, "we are willing to use this method
as many times as it is necessary", and a police official
also argued that "If a suspect comes to renew their residence
permit, we will simply not renew it and expel him". Article
54 of the Ley de Extranjería considers involvement in
activities that threaten Spain’s external security, may harm
Spain’s relations with other countries, or contravene public
order, to be "very serious offences" which may lead
to expulsion under article 57 of the same law.
Izquierda Unida (IU, United Left) and Ezquerra Republicana de
Catalunya (ERC, Catalan Republican Left), two of the parties
that support the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE,
Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) minority government, expressed
their concern about the possibility of the Ley de Extranjería
being used arbitrarily, and that this practice may lead citizens
to associate migrants with terrorism. ERC’s spokesman in the
Congreso (parliament), Joan Puigcerdós, stressed that
he would like the government to provide detailed information
about the expulsions, and hoped that this will not become a "habitual
practice by the interior minister". If this was to be the
case, he argued that:
"we will have problems, especially among the Muslim community, which will feel insecure because it will think that it doesn’t have a right to the same guarantees as everyone else".
IU leader Gaspar Llamazares described the expulsions as a case of the immigration law being used "beyond its scope" because:
"It is not possible that … Spain, which has well
developed anti-terrorist procedures, should have to use the Ley
de Extranjería. Instead of expelling them, they should
be put on trial."
The two people who were expelled were reportedly among the 40
persons arrested in connection with the Madrid bombings, but
they were later released without charges being brought against
them.
El País, 30-31.5.2004.
Press statement of the Immigration Section [of the Asociación
Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía] in response to the
recent government measure of expelling Muslim migrants on the
basis of a suspicion that they may be undermining State security
APDHA [Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía]
wants its voice to join those of Muslim collectives and other
associations that have expressed their concern over the recent
measure taken by the government by expelling Muslim migrants
using the Ley de Extranjería, on the basis of a suspicion
that they may be undermining State security. However, our criminal
code and the well developed anti-terrorist procedures that are
available have not been sufficient to support this measure.
The adoption of measures such as this one, without judicial control,
and without the need to provide evidence, makes us fear that
the Ley de Extranjería may be used arbitrarily. The use
of an administrative law such as the Ley de Extranjería
for purposes that fall within [the scope of ] criminal law, spreads
the inadvisable assimilation of irregular migrants with dangerous
terrorists. The effects that this could provoke are definitely
dangerous. When faced with criminal problems, criminal measures
should be used.
Summing up, the encouragement by the government of any possible
connection between crime or terrorism and immigration creates
a fertile ground [for attitudes] that are not favourable for
coexistence, and we seriously fear that actions like these allow
it to prosper.
Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos, 1 June 2004.
Statewatch translation of the press statement by the Asociación
Pro Derechos Humanos, available (in Spanish) on: http://www.apdha.org/comunicados/documentos/xpulsionmusulmanes0604.htm
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