Amnesty International accuses Spanish military units of torturing and mistreating migrants in Ceuta

Field investigation in Ceuta

Amnesty International sent a fact-finding delegation to the autonomous city of Ceuta between 10 and 15 September 2026. The visit followed the arrival of between 70,000 and 80,000 migrants and asylum seekers across the border on 30 and 31 July. During the five-day deployment, researchers inspected multiple informal sites where thousands of people live in open spaces across the enclave. The team held meetings with local prosecutors, journalists, non-governmental groups, and representatives of the autonomous government of Ceuta. Researchers conducted interviews with more than 65 migrants and asylum seekers from Morocco, Algeria, Somalia, and Yemen. Among those interviewed were 31 unaccompanied minors between 13 and 17 years old, 26 women, including two pregnant individuals, and 12 people who had registered or planned to register formal asylum claims.

Testimonies of physical assault and harassment

The organization gathered 22 direct testimonies describing a pattern of physical abuse, degrading treatment, and intimidation carried out by Spanish Armed Forces personnel, with reports pointing directly at the Regulars and Legion units. Interviewees reported being bound with zip ties, gagged, placed into vehicle trunks, and beaten with fists and regulation batons. One Moroccan migrant recounted spending 25 days unable to walk after soldiers woke him outside the Hermitage of San Antonio and pushed him down an elevated embankment. Other individuals described head trauma resulting from strikes after soldiers forced them to kneel, while several Muslim migrants stated they were forced to kneel and kiss a Christian cross. Amnesty International staff directly witnessed soldiers ordering racialized individuals off public benches after asking if they were local, with one soldier stating that troops had orders to ensure migrants did not feel comfortable. Furthermore, video and photographic records showed hooded soldiers operating at night, discharging irritant spray, beating individuals on their backs with batons and boots, and carrying out summary expulsions through the Tarajal border fence.

Esteban Beltrán, director of Amnesty International Spain, presented the findings from the delegation's on-site inquiries.

We give substantial credibility to a pattern repeated across attacks by some soldiers against migrants. We have graphically and audiovisually documented bruised bodies with injuries that appear consistent with strikes from rigid batons.

Institutional demands and legal obligations

Following the publication of the findings, Amnesty International sent formal letters to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas requesting an immediate humanitarian plan. The NGO called for adequate reception infrastructure and specialized protection for vulnerable groups, including women and children, either within the enclave or through organized transfers to mainland Spain. The letters urged Spain's autonomous communities to comply with existing legal frameworks by facilitating the relocation of unaccompanied minors rather than blocking arrivals. In its communication, the organization expressed solidarity with Ceuta residents and recognized the complex operational conditions facing security forces, noting that authorities had arrested more than 30 migrants for alleged physical assaults against military personnel. The organization concluded that military units, National Police officers, and Civil Guard personnel must uphold international conventions and domestic human rights laws regardless of border pressures.