Moroccans protest against royal pardon for convicted pedophile

(Update: Morocco's king on Sunday revoked his pardon of a Spanish pedophile, after hundreds rioted in front of parliament on Friday to protest the decision. A statement from the palace carried by the state news agency on Sunday said the king revoked the pardon, taking into consideration the gravity of the crimes committed. The pedophile, Daniel Vino Galvan, was later arrested in Spain. A spokesman for Spain's Interior ministry said he was arrested by police in Murcia in south-eastern Spain on Monday.  Galvan, who once worked at the University of Murcia, will be taken to Madrid where he will be brought before Spain's top criminal court, the National Audience, which will decide his fate, the spokesman added. The news came as King Mohamed VI of Morocco announced that the country’s director of prisons has been sacked after an inquiry blamed his department for Galvan’s release).


Riot police broke up a protest by hundreds of Moroccan demonstrators late on Friday against a royal pardon for a Spanish pedophile serving a 30-year sentence for raping and filming children as young as 4.
In running clashes with the demonstrators, baton-wielding police prevented them from gathering in front of the Moroccan parliament in the centre of the capital Rabat, injuring several people including journalists.
The convicted pedophile is among 48 jailed Spaniards who were pardoned by King Mohamed VI on Tuesday at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco last month.The demonstration followed an online campaign by outraged activists. Protests were also reported in several other cities in Morocco. Protesters demanded that the royal pardon be revoked and the Spaniard be brought back to jail. The government said the man had been expelled to Spain.
Hamid Krayri, a lawyer for families of the victims, named the pedophile as Daniel Vino Galvan and said he had been convicted 18 months ago by criminal courts in Kenitra, near Rabat, of raping and filming children aged between 4 and 15. "He is a retired Spaniard who owns two flats here in Kenitra," Krayri, who is a member of Morocco's Human Rights Association, told Reuters. He said he had filed a complaint against Galvan three years ago when activists showed him discs containing footage of the Spaniard and his victims.
The royal palace made no immediate comment, but the Justice Ministry said in a statement on Friday that the pardon had been issued based on Morocco's national interests under the friendly relations between the two countries."That person is banned in Morocco's territory, he cannot return," Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid told Reuters on Thursday.