CAT/C/41/D/323/2007 page 6 4.7 According to the State party, as soon as the passengers of the Marine I disembarked, the Spanish Government ensured that they were directly transferred to a reception centre that had been adequately equipped with tents and cots. The individuals received three hot meals a day adapted to their dietary requirements. They also received prompt medical treatment from the Red Cross and Médecins du Monde; they were treated for scabies and underwent surgical procedures. They were also allowed to take one shower a day and were given a change of clothes once a week. 4.8 Lastly, the State party affirms that the diplomatic agreement concluded with Mauritania provided, inter alia, for the temporary presence in Mauritanian territory of Spanish security forces to provide the Mauritanian authorities with technical support and to ensure that intake and repatriation operations proceeded normally. It consequently denies that the immigrants were ever irregularly detained. The complainant’s comments 5.1 On 18 October 2007, the complainant reiterated his arguments regarding his capacity to represent the alleged victims and the exhaustion of domestic remedies. He states that the existence of a domestic procedure initiated by CEAR does not prevent the Committee from ruling on the present complaint, especially as the application for the remedy in question was rejected. 5.2 The complainant maintains that the only safe port in the area to which the immigrants on board the Marine I could have been transferred was in the Canary Islands, Spain, given the living conditions in African coastal countries. He notes that it took two weeks from the time the vessel was found until it was taken to Mauritania and that during this time no medical or humanitarian assistance was provided to the passengers, nor was any of them evacuated on health grounds, and that it was only when they disembarked that “serious” first aid, which by law must be provided immediately, was made available. The complainant maintains that during these two weeks the 369 persons on board the Marine I were crammed together below deck, receiving food by means of ropes, and that no medical personnel was able to provide assistance or board the vessel to ascertain their state of health. 5.3 The complainant maintains that because Mauritania had not signed the SAR Convention, it did not feel obliged to admit the immigrants to its territory and that Spain paid Mauritania to take them in, while the immigrants, according to newspaper reports, were kept under Spanish and Mauritanian control. 5.4 Lastly, the complainant reiterates his allegations regarding the conditions of detention of the alleged victims as described in the initial complaint. State party’s observations on the merits 6.1 In notes dated 18 December 2007 and 3 January 2008, the State party reiterates its arguments regarding the admissibility of the complaint, namely the complainant’s alleged lack of competence to submit a complaint to the Committee under article 22 of the Convention and the failure to exhaust domestic remedies. It likewise maintains that Spain bears no responsibility because the incidents took place outside its jurisdiction. It points out that the action it took far