The court in Palma that is instructing the cases of 21 passengers who fled an Air Arabia Maroc plane after it had landed at Son Sant Joan is preparing charges for two crimes of sedition. These are the most serious crimes possible. Two others are accused for helping some of the 21 once they were in Mallorca. Another four passengers have not been located; it is known that at least two of them managed to get a ferry to the mainland.
The incident occurred on November 5, 2021. One of the passengers on the flight claimed to have been suffering a diabetic crisis. The judge points to this having been a "disease caused by himself" and she doubts that two alleged doctors who treated him on the plane were doctors.
The alarm was raised when the plane, which was en route to Istanbul, entered Spanish airspace and the two doctors on board alerted the pilot. If the plane didn't land within fifteen minutes, the passenger could die. The judge indicates that there is no evidence that they were bona fide doctors, while it is noted that they made a strangely precise diagnosis.
At Son Llàtzer Hospital and later in prison, it was ruled out that this passenger was diabetic. He and a passenger who accompanied him in the ambulance and then escaped from Son Llàtzer are among a first group of defendants. The judge considers that there are indications that they were the ones who "induced, supported and directed the sedition; they sought to interrupt navigation and vary the route". It is noted that "the events were planned", for which there was a "moderately organised group" on Facebook. "We are not looking at a situation of simple illegal entry into Spain. We are looking at facts required by jurisprudence in relation to the crime of sedition."
There is also a charge of coercion for harm to other passengers, while the sedition charges include disobeying the captain, which in any event is a crime under aeronautical law.