Brussels, 03/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - At the end of December 2006, the chairperson of the sub-committee on human rights at the European Parliament, Hélène Flautre, denounced the way Moroccan authorities treated several hundred migrants that were arrested and taken back to a place near the Algerian border. Ms Flautre said on 24 December that the massive violation of human rights in Morocco recently is outrageous and must end immediately. She was speaking the day after some 240 migrants from Sub-Saharan countries had been violently arrested in several districts of Rabat (Nahda and Taqadoum) by Moroccan police services and taken by bus to the Algerian border near Oujda. Upon their arrival, they were attacked, humiliated, insulted and threatened with reprisals if ever they should return to Morocco. Among the migrants there were women, children and dozens of refugees and holders of HCR documents issued by the HCR office in Rabat. Forty other African migrants were arrested in Nador on 25 December. One hundred and fifty of the 280 migrants regained the town of Oujda. There has been no information regarding the fate of the other immigrants. In this context, Ms Flautre called for an independent fact-finding inquiry and for the perpetrators of the violence to be prosecuted. She explained that refugees and asylum seekers and holders of HCR documents cannot be expelled. The MEP also called on Moroccan authorities to take every necessary measure as rapidly as possible in order to ensure the protection of the hundreds of deported persons. She called on the EU to approach the Moroccan authorities and asked it to review its policy of referring migrants to third countries. Pressure from the European Executive to make transit or even departure countries responsible for the detention and re-entry of migrants leads to repressive action and to the violation of migrants' rights, she deplored. (bc)