RABAT, 28 September 2003 — Moroccan courts yesterday sentenced a total of 18 accused terrorist conspirators to prison terms ranging up to 20 years as part of the crackdown on Islamic fundamentalism following suicide bombings in Casablanca last May.
The Rabat Criminal Court sentenced eight Moroccans alleged to have had links with Al-Qaeda and described by the prosecution as “particularly dangerous” to terms of between six and twenty years, the Moroccan news agency MAP said.
In another trial, the court sentenced 10 men, including a British resident, to terms of between two and 12 years for conspiring to commit terrorist acts and raising money to further their cause, according to MAP.
The two trials were among a dozen taking place in Morocco after the Casablanca bombings, which claimed 45 lives. Sixteen people have now been sentenced to death under the country’s new anti-terrorism laws.
A total of 634 people were arrested in vast police sweeps following the devastating nearly simultaneous suicide attacks on a Jewish cultural center, a hotel, an abandoned Jewish cemetery and two other targets on May 16.
The eight prisoners in the first trial were accused of criminal conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and undermine state security. They were said to have belonged to a terrorist organization called the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group. The prosecution said five of the accused had learned how to handle firearms at training camps in Afghanistan.
The leader of the group, Noureddine Nfia, otherwise known as Abou Mouaad, had liaised in Afghanistan with Osama Bin Laden and other leaders of his Al-Qaeda group, the prosecution said. He received 20 years.
One of four defendants sentenced to 18-year terms, Salaheddine Benyaich, is the brother of Abdelaziz Benyaich, alleged to be a member of an Al-Qaeda cell in Spain wanted in connection with the Casablanca bombings.
In the second trial, MAP said, the court found that the 10 defendants had conspired to form a criminal organization with the intention of carrying out criminal acts, and had held unauthorized public meetings.
Abdellatif Merroun, a British resident who lives in London pleaded that he had nothing to do with the group. But he admitted that he had taken part in a discussion in London with Mohamed Fizazi, a Moroccan Iskanist sentenced to 30 years in jail in July 19.
On Thursday, courts sentenced to death two men for murder and conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, and passed heavy jail sentences on two mosque preachers said to have inspired radical Islamist suicide bombers. Sixteen people have now been sentenced to death in Morocco since suicide bombings in Casablanca.
Abdelouhab Rabii, who was sentenced to death by a Rabat court late on Thursday, admitted to strangling a Justice Ministry official with the help Hamid Slimani, who was also condemned to death, MAP said.
