That Saturday, Helena Maleno (El Ejido, 1970) just wanted to get home and rest. Aware that the wind was stronger in Tanger, where she had been living for 15 years, she pictured herself on the sofa, resting with her daughter after a long work trip. However, that image vanished at the airport.

On the 23^rd of January 2021, at her arrival to Morocco, she was deported. She was forced into a plane with unknown destiny, without the possibility to make a call, and with no access to water or medicines. Taking her to Barcelona was just another violation as a migrant and human rights defender. It caused her exile, and an even more terrible thing: the separation from her underage daughter for 32 days.

Since March 2020, the defender has compiled at least 34 attacks against her, including intimidation, police alerts, and searches and seizures. Just for defending the right to life of the migrants who, due to the lack of safe and legal passages, have to cross in a dinghy the world’s largest cemetery: the Mediterranean Sea.

Maleno facing life imprisonment

In November 2017, Morocco initiated the process against the defender on the grounds of “immigrant trafficking and aiding and abetting illegal immigration.” Shortly after, Maleno found out that the origin of the investigation were the four reports that the Spanish border police (UCRIF) and the European border agency Frontex sent to the Moroccan authorities compelling them to open an investigation against her. Her prosecution in Morocco for alerting the rescue services because there were people in danger of death in the sea, was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Spanish police, who started to investigate her activities in 2012, sent the documents to the National Court to start legal action against her. No evidence proved that she was commiting a crime that is in fact diametrically opposed to her work in the defence of the right to life, so the case was closed. As a matter of fact, Walking Borders had already lodged complaints against human trafficking, and against the EU member states and their “necropolicies”.

Nevertheless, Maleno was still prosecuted in Spain, and after the closure of the case, the documents travelled to Morocco, where the accusation could have led to life imprisonment.

“Spain has never taken to the dock any human rights defender”, said the socialist member of the European Parliament López Aguilar from his office in Strasbourg (France). “In my case, to prosecute a defender, there was a collaboration between Europe and a third country, Morocco”, Maleno replied, condemning “the externalisation in the prosecution of defenders.”

That Saturday, Helena Maleno (El Ejido, 1970) just wanted to get home and rest. Aware that the wind was stronger in Tanger, where she had been living for 15 years, she pictured herself on the sofa, resting with her daughter after a long work trip. However, that image vanished at the airport.

On the 23^rd of January 2021, at her arrival to Morocco, she was deported. She was forced into a plane with unknown destiny, without the possibility to make a call, and with no access to water or medicines. Taking her to Barcelona was just another violation as a migrant and human rights defender. It caused her exile, and an even more terrible thing: the separation from her underage daughter for 32 days.

Since March 2020, the defender has compiled at least 34 attacks against her, including intimidation, police alerts, and searches and seizures. Just for defending the right to life of the migrants who, due to the lack of safe and legal passages, have to cross in a dinghy the world’s largest cemetery: the Mediterranean Sea.

Support campaign, how to revert the toxic environment

On the 6^th of February 2014, the name of Helena Maleno started to resonate in the minds of the Spanish population. The organisation she founded,Working Borders openly condemned the conduct of the Spanish and Moroccan security forces in what is known as “the massacre of El Tarajal” They collected the testimonies of the people who jumped into the water when trying to reach Ceuta (Spain) in their migration route.Many of them didn’t know how to swim.

According to the investigation report, there were at least 14 casualties and numerous injuries, as well as several push-backs to Morocco in the breakwater of Ceuta that day. The public condemnation from this organisation for the defence of migrant rights had a great impact.

Since then, the attempts to stigmatise the work of the defender and her organisation have not ceased. That year she was the target of a murder attempt, which was followed by a smear campaign in social media against her and Walking Borders.

Concerned about her lack of self-protection, several UN Special Rapporteurs sent letters to the Spanish and Moroccan governments asking for her situation, which were replied shortly after. In the letter sent by the international representatives to Spain, they not only expressed their concern about the case but also the importance of clarifying the facts.

Defending migrant rights led her to suffer a huge stigmatisation, which has been responded with an overwhelming off and online support network that goes beyond any attempt of criminalisation.

As an example, in less than 36 hours 56 thousand letters were sent to the Spanish Ministry of Domestic and Foreign Affairs demanding the closure of the legal case in Morocco. Also, in response to the first massive attack that the defender suffered, the hashtag #DefenderAQuienDefiende made the importance of supporting human rights defenders viral. Years after, with her prosecution, the hashtag #DefendiendoAMaleno also got viral, subscribed by more than 500 organisations and spread online by an enormous amount of people.

Maleno facing life imprisonment

In November 2017, Morocco initiated the process against the defender on the grounds of “immigrant trafficking and aiding and abetting illegal immigration.” Shortly after, Maleno found out that the origin of the investigation were the four reports that the Spanish border police (UCRIF) and the European border agency Frontex sent to the Moroccan authorities compelling them to open an investigation against her.Her prosecution in Morocco for alerting the rescue services because there were people in danger of death in the sea, was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Spanish police, who started to investigate her activities in 2012, sent the documents to the National Court to start legal action against her. No evidence proved that she was commiting a crime that is in fact diametrically opposed to her work in the defence of the right to life, so the case was closed. As a matter of fact, Walking Borders had already lodged complaints against human trafficking, and against the EU member states and their “necropolicies”.

Nevertheless, Maleno was still prosecuted in Spain, and after the closure of the case, the documents travelled to Morocco, where the accusation could have led to life imprisonment.

“Spain has never taken to the dock any human rights defender”, said the socialist member of the European Parliament López Aguilar from his office in Strasbourg (France). “In my case, to prosecute a defender, there was a collaboration between Europe and a third country, Morocco.”, Maleno replied, condemning “the externalisation in the prosecution of defenders.”