pay their mortgages and nearly 16,000 police officers. It also noted that the practice people who could no longer afford their rents. of mechanical fixation of people to a bed The government did, however, extend the persisted, including for juvenile detainees, suspension of evictions for economically and recommended its abolition. vulnerable people until 28 February 2022. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND In March, the UN Committee on Economic, ASSEMBLY Social and Cultural Rights upheld a complaint that Spain had violated the right to The 2015 Law on Public Security and housing of a family evicted without the provisions of the Criminal Code which unduly provision of alternative, adequate restrict the rights to freedom of expression accommodation. Over 100 other complaints and peaceful assembly were not amended concerning the right to adequate housing and continued to be enforced. against Spain remained pending before this In February, the rapper Pablo Hasél began Committee. serving a nine-month prison sentence for the EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE criminal offences of “glorification of terrorism” and “insulting the crown and state Instances of unnecessary and excessive use institutions”, following a conviction in 2018 of force by the security forces continued. In for the content of some tweets. February, a law enforcement official used a In June, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez, firearm against protesters during civil society leaders of the movement for demonstrations in Linares (Andalucía) after a Catalonia’s independence, were released man and his daughter were assaulted by two from prison following a government pardon. off-duty police officers. An internal They had spent almost four years in investigation concluded that no individual detention, following an unjust conviction on agent could be identified as the shooter. In sedition charges in connection with peaceful June, the Ministry of the Interior rejected an protests and the 2017 referendum on Ombudsman’s recommendation to adopt Catalan independence. mechanisms to prevent misallocation of ammunition and to ensure that agents can be REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS identified. The government evacuated 2,026 Afghan Also in February, a woman lost her eye, nationals following the Taliban seizure of allegedly because of the impact from a foam power in Afghanistan. For the first time, the bullet fired by the Catalan police during government allowed Afghan nationals to protests following the detention of the rapper apply for asylum in the Spanish embassy in Pablo Hasél. A judicial investigation was Pakistan. Some 48 people were subsequently initiated. transferred to Spain in October. In April, law enforcement officials fired A total of 22,200 asylum seekers and rubber balls at migrants to quell a protest in a migrants arrived by sea in the Canary Islands. reception centre in the Canary Islands. Eight At least 955, including at least 80 children, migrants were detained, and at least 10 died at sea while attempting the journey from required medical assistance. west African coasts. Poor management and Investigations into allegations of unlawful lack of reception capacity on the islands use of force by law enforcement officials resulted in unnecessary suffering for the during the October 2017 protests in Catalonia refugees and migrants, including many remained open at the end of the year. unaccompanied children, due to avoidable TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT overcrowding and sub-standard conditions in reception facilities. The authorities also failed In November, the European Committee for to ensure access to a fair and efficient the Prevention of Torture noted numerous asylum procedure. Asylum seekers could not credible reports of ill-treatment by prison and access adequate information about their Amnesty International Report 2021/22 343