Rabat (AFP) - A Moroccan non-governmental organization on Saturday criticized the "strict" sentences issued in Morocco without "convincing" evidence against many migrants, following the attempt of large numbers of them to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla in June.

"The verdicts were very harsh and unjust and supportive of Morocco's immigration policies," Souad Lazraq, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, said Saturday when submitting a report on the trial.

On June 24, about 2,000 migrants, mostly from Sudan, attempted to force their way into Melilla, a landlocked region in Morocco, through the Nador border crossing.

This attempt, which led to confrontations between migrants and the police, left 23 people dead, according to the Moroccan authorities, and 27 people, according to the Moroccan Association for Human Rights.

Dozens of immigrants were sentenced to prison terms of between two and a half and three years in the aftermath of these events.

They were tried on charges of “illegal entry into Moroccan territory,” “violence against law enforcement personnel,” or “armed gathering,” among other charges.

Lawyer Khaled Amiza said during the presentation of the case in Nador, which was transmitted directly via Facebook, that "the session records contain confessions that (the defendants) denied throughout the judicial procedures, and despite that, they were sentenced to very harsh sentences."

Omaizah referred to accusations of using violence against security forces and looting public property, explaining that "the security forces interviewed did not specify that this person was beaten or that another person was broken."

The human toll of this tragedy, which has sparked great outrage in Morocco and abroad, is the most severe during one of the many attempts by migrants to enter Melilla and the neighboring Spanish enclave of Ceuta, which constitutes the only land border of the European Union with the African continent.