Following angry public protests, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has revoked a pardon granted to a Spanish man convicted of raping 11 children ages four to 15, the BBC reports.

The Moroccan cabinet said the monarch was unaware of the gravity of Daniel Galvan Vina’s crimes when he granted the pardon to him and 47 other Spaniards.

Vina, 30, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in September 2011. He reportedly left Morocco after receiving the pardon last week.

Protesters denouncing the pardon clashed with police in Rabat, the capital, on Friday. Demonstrations also occurred in the cities of Tangier, Kenitra, and Tetouan and outside the Moroccan Embassy in Paris.

The king “was never informed - in any way or at any time – of the seriousness of the abject crimes of which the person concerned was convicted,” according to a statement released Sunday by the royal palace.

The statement said it “is clear that the sovereign would never have consented” to the release given the “monstrous crimes” this individual committed.