Mohamed Said Badaoui was escorted on Friday, November 18 by 13 Spanish police officers to the airport where he was to catch a plane for Casablanca. Accused of “ideological radicalism”, Badaoui denies and affirms that it is about a political affair.
“I am in Morocco, with my parents. I digest this unfair situation (…) I feel helpless, ”says Mohamed Said Badaoui (40) in an interview with the Catalan media El Periodico.
Imprisoned in a center for foreigners in the free zone of Barcelona, Badaoui, who is the president of the Association for the defense of the rights of the Muslim community (Adecom), was taken away by the police on Friday, November 18 at 11 p.m. “They handcuffed me and took me straight to terminal 4 of Barajas airport (Madrid). At five o’clock in the morning, they took off our handcuffs and put us on the plane,” he says.
“They did it in secret so no one noticed what was going on. No one was able to react at these hours of the night to put pressure on and avoid expulsion. We arrived in Casablanca around 8 am in a plane with only 13 policemen on board”, continues this Moroccan, having never obtained dual nationality.
Once in Morocco, Mohamed Said was interrogated and released, he said, saying Moroccan authorities were “cordial and kind” but were “surprised by the deployment of Spanish police”.
Badaoui was released a few hours later, he says in a video shot in front of the Casablanca police headquarters. “The (Spanish) national police have not provided any evidence proving that I am a jihadist”, he underlines, regretting the fact of not having “been able to defend oneself with dignity and express oneself in Spain”, given that there was no trial.
The Moroccan affirms that his only wrong was to have “denounced the violations of rights against the Muslim and migrant community committed by the Spanish administrations”. “The only thing I have done is to demand the rights of Muslims: that we have cemeteries to bury our dead, that there are “halal” menus in hospitals, schools, and prisons, that women who so wish may freely wear the veil at university or at work. That the municipalities do not put obstacles in the registration of immigrants, that the offense of facies ceases…”.
“I hope to be able to return to Spain as soon as possible,” concluded the father of the family.
As a reminder, Mohamed Said Badaoui was arrested at the same time as Amarouch Azbir, another Moroccan, president of the local branch of the Islamic association Al Forkan, which the police also accuse of radicalization. Azbir underwent the same treatment as Badaoui and is currently in Morocco.
