Catalan woman freed from Omani prison embraces 'second chance in life'

Fátima Ofkir, the Catalan woman released after seven years in prison in Oman, gave her first press conference since being freed in Barcelona on Tuesday morning. She said that she will not "throw away this second chance in life" in front of dozens of journalists.

Ofkir, from L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, was arrested in 2018, aged 18, and was serving a life sentence for drug trafficking. She landed at Barcelona airport on Sunday morning to the excitement of her family and friends.

The Sultan of Oman granted her a pardon coinciding with the end of Ramadan.

During her statement, Fátima explained that she "is not only a freed young woman, I am a transformed woman, after a youthful mistake from when I was 18 years old."

Back then, Ofkir was caught with seven kilograms of morphine in a hotel in Muscat, the country's capital, at a "difficult time of my life" and "was seduced by easy money and promises from those who call themselves friends."

All those decisions pushed her to "live in hell in a faraway country."

Helping 'lost' youngsters

Fátima told reporters that she plans to enroll in law school to "dedicate my life to be an example to those youngsters who feel lost and to help them build a future with clean hands."

"Young people should not be seduced by easy money, as you always have to fight for your rights with clean hands," she added.

During her time in prison, she took the opportunity to "read psychology books, study, and play, and the result is being able to speak seven languages."

"Living at the Omani prison has been a little bit difficult, and there were some days I thought I could not continue," she said before thanking her lawyer, Mónica Santiago, who told her to "continue a little bit more."

Ofkir has taken the opportunity to thank everyone who has been helping her cause, including media outlets, and thanked her legal team for giving her hope.

"I deserve a future, and we all deserve the possibility of having a future," she said before acknowledging the "damage" she caused not only to herself but to family members and friends.

"I will not throw away this second opportunity," she said.

Before leaving the press conference room, Ofkir said that she "wants to help all young people who want to do something wrong. I just want to help them the same way I have been helped."

Back then, she said, speaking in the third person, "Fátima was facing a difficult situation at home, in the prime of her life, but surrounded by bad influences." She now acknowledges to have left that Fátima in the past, a Fátima that was "lost and did not know what she was doing."

"She thought she would conquer the world, and all she ended up doing was eating Omani bread," Fátima said ironically, remembering a past herself.

Long way

Lawyer Antonio Sagnier, who joined pro bono Mónica Santiago, said he had been working on the case for four years after learning of Fátima's situation.

"In Spain, Fátima would have faced between four and five years maximum," he said. In Oman, Fátima Ofkir was sentenced to life in prison.

Lawyer Baltasar Garzón, who also joined the legal team, said that the "bad legal advice Fátima had at the beginning" was also one of the main reasons why the case "derailed" in such a way.

A year ago, it emerged that Spain was finalizing an agreement to transfer Spanish prisoners sentenced in Oman, similar to one signed in 2022 with Qatar that allows those sentenced there to be transferred to Spanish prisons. 

Ofkir's family and her defense, Vosseler Abogados, had repeatedly criticized the "disproportionate" nature of the sentence imposed, and had demanded her repatriation with a petition to the European Parliament. 

They said that the young woman from L'Hospitalet had had an "irregular" trial with a lack of procedural guarantees and that the lawyer recommended by the Spanish embassy in Oman had never practiced law. 

"Psychological nightmare" 

In 2022, Catalan News spoke to Rosario Reyes Carballo, Ofkir's mother, about the "psychological nightmare" of dealing with her daughter's imprisonment on the other side of the world, and her own anguish and frustration at the lack of developments. 

Listen to the podcast below, recorded in 2022, to learn more about the case, including an interview with Ofkir's mother.