The Ombudsman will investigate the death of a Moroccan on hunger strike due to the lack of appointments to request asylum

Efe Madrid

Madrid

Updated Saturday, March 16, 2024-15:07

This Saturday, the Ombudsman began an ex officio action after learning of the death of the young Moroccan who lived in a shelter in the Madrid town of San Fernando de Henares and who, apparently, was on a hunger strike due to the lack of appointments to request asylum.

The young migrant, of Moroccan origin

, arrived in the Canary Islands and was housed in a hostel in San Fernando de Henares,

a reception facility managed by the Red Cross.

Last Thursday afternoon he began to feel sick to his stomach and a few hours later he went into cardiorespiratory arrest, dying in the hospital at dawn.

The institution directed by Ángel Gabilondo has addressed the State Attorney General's Office and the State Secretariat for Migration to request information about what happened and specify the circumstances surrounding the death of the young man.

Furthermore, Gabilondo has asked if efforts have been made to inform the young man's family, who in principle is believed to have had no previous pathologies.

The

lack of appointments to request asylum

, an issue about which numerous complaints are received by the Ombudsman, apparently motivated a hunger strike by a group of migrants, among whom was this deceased young man, explain the sources of the institution.

According to what some migrants who lived with the victim told the Red Cross, the young man was feeling unwell, but they were told that they could not care for him, so they accompanied him to the health center, where they prescribed him omeprazole.

The Red Cross is the entity in charge of managing this hostel, where some migrants arriving from the Reception, Emergency and Referral Centers (CAED) in Madrid arrive.

Later, the Moroccan, born in 2001, worsened and

a mobile ICU went to the hostel

and tried to revive him before transferring him to the 12 de Octubre Hospital, where they confirmed his death around 2:00 in the morning.

More than 30 groups have gathered in front of the San Fernando de Henares City Hall to denounce the abandonment of the institutions that people seeking international protection are suffering from.

The groups regret that none of the migrants who lived with the victim in that resource have yet been able to request asylum to enter the international protection system, despite having been in Spain for more than three months.