Madrid - A Spanish refugee support organization on Thursday called for the closure of a detention centre for undocumented immigrants in Mauritania, describing it as a "little Guantanamo."The centre was founded in a former school near Nouadhibou in 2006 with Spanish funding. It houses would-be migrants who have been arrested when attempting to reach Spain, or who have been expelled by Spain.
The African migrants were kept in crowded and insalubrious conditions for up to 15 days, and were not allowed to go anywhere except to the toilets under police guard, the Spanish Commission for Aid to Refugees (CEAR) said in a report to the Spanish government.
The migrants were imprisoned without any written justification, and given no interpreters or legal assistance before being taken by bus to the Mauritanian border, where they were left without any means to travel on to their home countries, the CEAR said.
Spain and other European Union members have signed agreements with countries like Mauritania to contain illegal immigration, without basing them on a sufficient respect for human rights, the group observed.
