"Someday I will jump that fence, I will have a job and a normal life", that was what I thought when I made the decision to leave Morocco to seek a better life in Spain. Ever since I read the news that 37 migrants died in an attempt to jump the fence in Melilla in the middle of a Spanish and Moroccan police device I have not stopped thinking that I could have been one of those people or any of my friends. They are not just numbers. They are people with names and surnames, dreams, stories, illusion who, like me, risked their lives to reach Spain. This brutality cannot go unpunished! I call on the Government of Spain, the competent ministries and the judiciary to carry out a thorough and independent investigation so that the facts are clarified, the bodies are identified and autopsies are performed immediately. Every minute counts, sign and share now! 

My name is Oussama Morabit, I am Moroccan and I have been living in Spain for 6 years. When I was 14 years old I decided to leave my country. I spent a few months living in Castillejos (Morocco), a city very close to Ceuta, thinking about how to cross the border. I hid in trucks to cross, I tried to jump the fence several times and on many occasions I received beatings and violence from the police, like the 37 people who died in Melilla. Until one day I succeeded. I ran so fast that the police could not catch me and I made it to Spain. 

The images of the Melilla massacre keep reminding me of those days. Everything that went through my head, the fear, the racism that surrounds the fence and all the people I met there. Everything I risked to get here and the countless rights violations I suffered along the way. I feel so much rage, helplessness and pain when I see the images and think that I could have been one of them and that our rights matter less than those of the European people. But it makes me even angrier to hear the Government talk about "mafias" instead of assuming its responsibility and putting all possible means to investigate the case in depth. And on top of that, to congratulate the security forces that attacked the migrants is unbearable.

The only thing that encourages me is to know that we can still do something to restore justice to all the victims and honor their memory: to demand that the Spanish Government, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and all the judges in Spain start an investigation immediately to clarify the facts. The images speak for themselves, the UN has pronounced itself pointing out the violations of rights by Spain and Morocco. We need IMMEDIATE action and an independent investigation NOW to clarify the facts beyond what the prosecutor's office has initiated. 

Unfortunately, we do not have much time. Many bodies without autopsies are being buried in Nador and the Government continues to justify the massacre with the mafias without assuming the slightest responsibility. People who managed to cross the fence are unjustifiably quarantined and others have been returned in the heat of the moment. I need your support to get justice for them and for all the people who try to cross the border every day. We cannot send the message to the world that migrant deaths go unpunished. We need an investigation and we need it NOW - sign and share the petition!

Investigating will not repair the pain of so many families who have lost their children, siblings and friends, but it is the least we can do. To get that longed for truth, justice and reparation. Sign and share the petition, let's get a real judicial investigation to clarify the facts so that they never happen again. I have in my memory all the victims and their families and I ask that they find rest, comfort and peace through their convictions and a justice that is fully restorative.