RABAT, 26 August 2003 — The trial opened here yesterday of 34 suspected Islamic militants, including French national Pierre Robert, accused of involvement in the suicide bomb attacks in Casablanca in May that killed 45 people.
The accused, all said to have links to the Salafia Jihadia fundamentalist group which has been blamed for the Casablanca bombings, face charges of criminal conspiracy and conspiracy to undermine state security, premeditated murder and possession of arms and explosives. They face the death penalty if found guilty.
Shortly after the court convened, the trial of 31-year-old Robert, also known as Abou Abderrahmane Yacoubi and said to be the leader of the accused militants, was adjourned until Friday after the Frenchman refused to be represented by state-appointed lawyer Chawki Ajana.
If Robert does not himself name a new defense lawyer, Rabat criminal court will appoint his counsel, and Robert will not be able to refuse that nomination.
It was not immediately clear if the trial of the other defendants had also been adjourned, or if Ajana had also been appointed to represent any of the other accused.
The prosecutor’s office has described Robert as “the crucial link” between militant Islamic cells in Tangiers, Fez, Casablanca and elsewhere in Morocco. With his 33 Moroccan “accomplices”, Robert allegedly formed “armed and well-organized criminal bands within Salafia Jihadia,” the banned extremist movement suspected of being behind the May 16 bombings in Casablanca, Morocco’s economic capital.
On Aug. 19, a court in Casablanca sentenced four Salafia Jihadia activists to death and dozens to heavy jail terms for the attacks. Commentators say that Robert could shed light on the theory that there was a “foreign hand” involved in the Casablanca bombings.
Earlier this month, another Frenchman, Pierric Picard, was acquitted by the same criminal court in Rabat on a charge of “failing to inform authorities of a terrorist plot.”
Danish national Omar Maarouf was one of 10 members of Salafia Jihadia sentenced to death in Casablanca on July 12 for various murders and attacks prior to the attacks in Casablanca.
