Posted on 02/21/2003 5:59:39 PM PST by blam
Three jailed in Morocco for al-Qaida plot
Three Saudi Arabians have been jailed for 10 years by a Moroccan court for leading an al-Qaida plot to attack British and American warships.
They were arrested on May 12 last year for what prosecutors contend was a plot to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the Strait of Gibraltar to attack US and British warships.
The alleged plan was similar to one carried out in October 2000, when two suicide bombers in a small boat rammed the USS Cole destroyer in a port in Yemen, killing 17 sailors.
A prosecutor had requested capital punishment - execution by firing squads - which is allowed under Moroccan law but rarely carried out.
The Saudis, Zouhair Hilal Tabiti, 26, Hilal Jaber El-Assiri, 31, and Abdellah Msafer El Ghamidi, 22, are also accused of having planned to blow up a cafe in Marrakech and attack tourist buses in Morocco.
The defence argued that the authorities tortured the defendants to extract information.
Moroccan police are believed to have thwarted the plot with the help of information provided by suspected al-Qaida operatives held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The three Saudis were convicted of charges of attempted murder, attempted sabotage with the use of explosives and belonging to a criminal organisation.
Story filed: 22:52 Friday 21st February 2003
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