Posted on 07/21/2003 4:53:31 PM PDT by blam
Morocco cracks down on Islamists
By Isambard Wilkinson
(Filed: 22/07/2003)
A mass trial of hundreds of Moroccans suspected of having links with Islamic terrorism opened in Casablanca yesterday amid fears that the crackdown signals a return to the country's oppressive past.
In the gloom of Casablanca's criminal court six rows of wispily bearded young men sitting behind a bullet-proof glass cage murmuring Koranic verses represented the first batch of 700 Islamists to be tried.
As some of the suspects whispered encouragement to one another and laughed defiantly, other gaunt-looking young men shook uncontrollably as they wept.
The 52 first suspects are accused of belonging to a radical Islamic group held responsible for suicide bomb attacks against Jewish and Western targets that killed 44 people two months ago in Casablanca. Most of the victims were Moroccans.
Three alleged terrorists who are accused of planning to blow themselves up alongside the 12 suicide bombers who detonated five almost simultaneous blasts were the first to be called before the judge.
They were charged with "criminal association, undermining internal state security, sabotage, murder, intention to cause injury and permanent injury".
Some of the men have been accused of having indirect links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network.
Among them was 23-year-old Mohammed El Omari, a car park attendant who was found dazed at the scene of one of the blasts with explosives in a bag that had failed to detonate. Rachid Jalil, a 27-year-old welder allegedly planned to bomb a Jewish club but ran scared after hearing the first explosions, according to a police report.
Yassine Lahnech, 22, a street hawker, was also alleged to have planned to bomb the club. He, like almost all the accused, is said to be inspired by the Salafia Jihad Islamic movement.
The shock of the attacks was such that their date, May 16, has become for Morocco what September 11 is to America. The wave of arrests has been accompanied by allegations of torture and has created fears of a return to the rule of the late King Hassan II and the notorious trials of Islamists in the 1970s.
A week ago Morocco sent religious radicals an unequivocal message by sentencing 10 suspects to death for murdering several people they thought had violated Islamic customs.
Aboubakr Jamai, the editor of Le Journal, the most outspoken of Morocco's normally stifled press, said: "I am not saying these people are innocent, but knowing the Moroccan police and judiciary I expect the worst in terms of transparency and the normal rules governing trials."
Aboubakr Jamai, the editor of Le Journal, the most outspoken of Morocco's normally stifled press, said: "I am not saying these people are innocent, but knowing the Moroccan police and judiciary I expect the worst in terms of transparency and the normal rules governing trials."
I will file this article under the GOOD NEWS category.
Muleteam1
I really can't find an argument to that statement.
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