Four Moroccan migrants seeking asylum in Spain escaped from Hall 3 of the Madrid airport asylum center on Wednesday, according to sources within the Spanish Ministry of Interior. Despite «exhaustive search efforts, the National Police was unable to locate the individuals, and an investigation has been launched to clarify the circumstances surrounding their escape», the same source stated. A similar incident occurred last month in the same hall in Terminal 1, where a group of Mauritanian asylum seekers attempted to escape after learning that their applications had been rejected and they would be deported. Spanish media, citing the Interior Ministry, reported that 115 asylum seekers, including 73 from Morocco claiming to be persecuted Sahrawis, are awaiting the processing or rejection of their applications for international protection in Spain. Some of these individuals have gone on hunger strikes. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has already made it clear that Moroccan asylum seekers claiming to be persecuted Sahrawis will be «deported» if they are not granted protection in accordance with the law and validated by the courts. He emphasized that the government will handle this group «in compliance with national and international laws, as always, and under the supervision of the judicial authorities».
