Human rights groups accuse Spain of defending racial profiling

Human rights groups have accused the Spanish government of defending racial profiling in a major case involving a Catalan citizen born in Pakistan, who allegedly was told by a police officer that he was being detained because of his skin color.

Zeshan Muhammad took his case to the Constitutional Court in 2016, but it was dismissed. He then launched a lawsuit against Spain in the European Court of Human Rights.

In 2013, Muhammad was detained by a Spanish police officer in Barcelona. On asking why, he was told that had he been German he would not have been arrested. Muhammad pressed the officer, who then allegedly told him he was being arrested because he is black.

According to Muhammad, he was then slapped by the officer and put into a police car, where the officers continued to insult him.

"Police racial profiling of Mr. Muhammad, and his public humiliation by the National Police, were not isolated events," read his defense. "Rather, they are part of a consistent pattern of ethnic profiling and racially discriminatory law enforcement in Spain, enabled by inadequate legal protections and flawed constitutional jurisprudence."