6 Out of 10 Detainees for Jihadism in Spain Are Released: What's Happening

The arrest this week of a fugitive jihadist in Spain who killed three people during his disappearance has questioned the functioning of the system. Despite having been convicted twice and having spent two years in prison, Allal El Mourabit had been released under supervision. His family reported his disappearance before this dangerous, highly radicalized jihadist committed three murders in Navarra and Catalonia.

The police recently arrested ten Pakistanis in Barcelona who were planning to behead infidels, and six of them were released. In light of cases like this, concern is growing about the anti-terrorism security system in Spain. Unfortunately, these are not isolated cases.

In 2024, the State Security Forces and Corps carried out 33 operations against Islamist terrorism in Spain and made 81 arrests. Only 33 of them were sent to prison. The rest, 60% (six out of ten), were released.

The data is striking given the increase in terrorist activity since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. Spain and Catalonia are red zones of international jihadism. Despite this, most of the detainees are on the streets.

Why Many Don't Go to Jail

The data comes from the 2024 Jihadism Penitentiary Observatory, conducted by the ACAIP-UGT prison union. The situation is very concerning because, according to the same entity, the gap between arrests and effective judicial convictions could be even greater. 

The report shows that the majority of those imprisoned, 63.6%, are accused of glorifying terrorism, propaganda, and indoctrination. Six percent belong to a terrorist organization, while 18% were accused of collaboration. Even so, the authors of the report warn of the lack of official data that prevents a more global picture of the problem.

What the data do show is that there is a worrying discrepancy between police work and judicial action. This is happening in many other areas of conventional crime. The police's work often ends up being useless because the detainees are released, benefiting from a guarantee-based and, moreover, overwhelmed system.

Judges usually apply precautionary measures in the most preventive way, considering circumstances such as the possibility of reoffending or the risk of flight. Preventive detention is only applied in cases where there is sufficient weight of evidence or that involve special danger. 

In the case of jihadism, this is a problem because the police often act as soon as possible to thwart potential attacks. This means that they often arrest people without sufficient evidence for judges to decree preventive measures. But the police are clear about it; they prefer to arrest the suspect before they act, even if this later results in a lesser penalty.

3,000 Foreigners Expelled in 2024

In this situation, there is an increasing clamor to increase the deportations of foreign criminals and those linked to terrorism. Spain expelled 3,031 foreigners last year, in procedures initiated by the State Security Forces and Corps. 

The Government assures that 90% of the expulsions in the last decade were processed for activities against national security. But although there were more anti-terrorist operations last year than in 2023, there were fewer deportations. Specifically, 59 fewer, since in 2023, 3,090 expulsion orders from the national territory were executed.

The vast majority of those detained and expelled for terrorist activities are Moroccans or of Maghrebi origin. According to data from the Observatory, 39% of those imprisoned last year were Moroccans, while 34% had Spanish nationality. Most of the Spaniards were of Maghrebi origin and resided in Ceuta and Melilla.