Posted on 07/31/2003 11:52:31 PM PDT by Pikamax
Briton accused over Casablanca bombs
Giles Tremlett in Madrid and Mark Oliver Friday August 1, 2003 The Guardian
A British man has been arrested in Morocco on suspicion of being a member of the violent Islamist group that carried out suicide bomb attacks which killed 44 people in Casablanca in May. The Foreign Office confirmed last night that the man had been arrested in the northern city of Fez.
The FO said they found out he and another British man had been held by Moroccan police for six weeks only after making inquiries on behalf of their families. A spokeswoman said last night she was unable to confirm whether the second man would face similar charges. "We will be raising the fact that a British national was held for six weeks without us being informed," she said.
A British embassy spokesman in Rabat said the man facing terrorism charges also held a Moroccan passport, so police there would not have been obliged to inform the embassy.
"We were first [on Tuesday] informed of more minor charges against him, but today it seems he is to be charged in connection with the May 16 attacks," the spokesman confirmed yesterday.
The man facing terrorism charges does not live in the north African country and has not been named.
The Foreign Office spokeswoman said of the second man, with single British nationality: "We are not aware officially that he has been held on terrorism charges. He has been held on a minor charge but we cannot say what it is at this stage before the family has been informed."
It is understood the British citizen believes he has been held in connection with terror charges. The FO said it was not clear if the two men knew each other. The spokeswoman said: "The family of the man with dual nationality, British and Moroccan, said he had gone missing on June 20. The family of the other man, with a British passport, notified officials in Morocco on June 18 that he had also gone missing."
The man with both passports is one of some 700 people who are due to be put on trial to face charges relating to the May 16 attacks against hotels, restaurants and European and Jewish targets in Casablanca. The first 52 appeared at a Casablanca court last week on charges of "forming a criminal band, acts against the security of the state, sabotage, homicide, and causing injuries".
Moroccan authorities have blamed the bombing on sympathisers of an Islamist movement that they call Salafist Jihad. The alleged leader of the bombing attacks, Abdelhaq Bentassir, died shortly after being arrested by police in Fez in May. That death led to demands for an inquiry from human rights groups.
Another death, of a philosophy teacher named Mohammed Bunnit whose body appeared in Marrakesh after he had been called to the police station, has also led to questions being asked about how Morocco is going about its crackdown on Islamists.
The near-simultaneous bombings at five Casablanca locations killed 44 people, including 12 bombers. The bombs tore through a Spanish restaurant, the Belgian consulate, a Jewish community centre and cemetery and a hotel.
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