Free Republic

Frenchman Pierre Robert has received a life prison term for plotting terrorist attacks in Morocco. Rabat's criminal court found him guilty of charges of preparing terrorist acts, possessing weapons and endangering state security. Robert's trial was part of investigations into the May 16 suicide bombings in Casablanca that claimed 45 lives. Robert and his 33 co-defendants were each given the right to a "last word" before the five judges began 12 hours of deliberations earlier on Thursday, local time. Two of his co-accused also received life terms, for the murder of a woman in Tangiers. Only two of the accused...

Operation of the DST counters suspects islamists in Paris area (press) A significant operation carried out by the services of against-espionage (DST) is in hand with Aulnay-under-Wood and with Mantes-the-Pretty to stop islamists suspected of having taken part in the attacks of Casablanca on last 16 May which had made 45 died, Monday morning announced radio Europe 1. According to the radio, which quotes investigators, the operation started with 6H00 and is always in hand. It aims at dormant dies and cells within the framework of an investigation opened by Parisian judges, of which judge Jean-Louis Bruguière.

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia, engaged in a crackdown on Islamist extremists blamed for a string of bombings, said it had extradited two Moroccan militants to Rabat in exchange for three Saudis jailed in Morocco on al-Qaeda linked charges. "Security forces today received three Saudi citizens convicted and jailed in Morocco on security-related charges," said an interior ministry official quoted by the state SPA news agency. He named them as Abdullah bin Misfer al-Ghamdi, Zuhair bin Hilal al-Thabiti and Hilal bin Jaber al-Assiri, who were sentenced by a Casablanca court in February last year to 10 years in prison for...

The trial opened in Morocco on Monday of 34 suspected Islamic militants, including a French national said to be their leader, accused of involvement in the suicide bomb attacks in Casablanca in May that killed 45 people. Frenchman Pierre Robert and 33 Moroccan nationals are alleged by the prosecution to have formed "armed and well-organized criminal bands within Salafia Jihadia," the banned Islamic extremist group suspected of being behind the bombings in Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital. The accused - who face the death penalty if convicted - are charged with criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to undermine state security, premeditated murder and...

A court in Rabat has sentenced three Moroccans to lengthy prison sentences after they were found guilty of terrorist offences. The three men were given sentences ranging from 7 to 20 years for a number of crimes, including co-ordinating terrorist attacks. A fourth accused, a Frenchman, was acquitted. He had been charged with failing to inform the authorities of a terrorist plot. The three Moroccans were arrested in connection with the bombings last May in Casablanca, but they were actually charged with unrelated terrorist activities. Moroccan police arrested hundreds of militant Muslims following the attacks in Casablanca, in which 44...

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...

The first trial has begun of people accused of involvement in the terror attacks in Morocco on May 16th this year. Forty-four people lost their lives when various Western and Jewish targets were bombed in the capital, Casablanca. Since then, the Moroccan authorities have detained around 700 people, who are to stand trial in connection with the attacks. At the request of the defence team, the proceedings against the first group of 52 people was adjourned today until the end of the week. The accused are also charged with being members of Salafiyah Jihadia, a group of Muslim fundamentalists which...

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested a French man on suspicion of links to last month's bombings in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, a newspaper has reported. The daily El Pais said Abdelaziz Benyaich, about 30 years old, had been arrested in Algeciras on Spain's southern coast on Thursday at the request of Moroccan police, and taken to Madrid. Forty-three people died in the attacks, including 12 suicide bombers. El Pais said Benyaich had been identified by another French suspect under arrest in Morocco. Citing police sources, it said Benyaich had lived in Algeciras for six months but had...

RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan authorities say they have charged another 19 members and sympathisers of an extremist Islamic movement in connection with suicide bombings in Casablanca last month in which 43 people died. Some of the men, all Moroccans, had planned similar attacks on the tourist destinations of Marrakesh, Agadir and Essaouira, in southern Morocco, the official MAP news agency said on Friday. State prosecutor Abdellah Alaoui Belghiti said most of the men, aged between 17 and 40, belonged to an ultra-conservative Islamist movement known as the Salafist Jihad. Some had declared their support for the May 16 attacks on...

RABAT, Morocco - Moroccan police arrested a French citizen Tuesday wanted in connection with the May suicide attacks in Casablanca that killed 31 bystanders. After a manhunt, Robert Richard Antoine Pierre was arrested in the northern city of Tangiers, where he had been living with his Moroccan wife, security officials said. Pierre, 28, is the first non-Moroccan implicated in the series of five nearly simultaneous bombings on May 16 that targeted Jewish and Spanish sites in Casablanca, Morocco's largest city, as well as a major hotel. Twelve attackers - all Moroccans - also died in the bombings. Dozens of Moroccans...

The suspected mastermind of this month's devastating suicide explosions in Casablanca has died of chronic heart and liver problems while in detention, the city's prosecutor said Wednesday. A total of 43 people including 12 suicide bombers were killed in the May 16 attacks in Morocco's largest city. The suspect, identified as Abdelhak and also known as Moul al-Sebbat, was arrested Monday in the northern city of Fes and died while being transferred to a hospital in Casablanca, the prosecutor said. An autopsy found that he had "died a natural death" that was "the result of heart and liver problems," according...

RABAT, Morocco (Reuters) - Morocco said Wednesday it captured the alleged leader of suicide bombers who killed dozens of people in Casablanca this month but it said he had died in custody from chronic heart and liver disease. State prosecutor Moulay Abdellah Alaoui Belghiti told state television Abdelhaq Moulsabbat was arrested Monday in the central city of Fes, where its poor districts are reputed to be strongholds of radical Islamists. The prosecutor said Moulsabbat died while being taken by investigators from Fes to Casablanca. The prosecutor did not say when he died nor how old he was. "He (Moulsabbat) suffered...

Tens of thousands of Moroccans have thronged the streets of Casablanca to voice their anger over the suicide attacks which killed 43 people. Dozens of associations and political parties joined the march, led by Prime Minister Driss Jettou and other government officials. The demonstration began outside the Farah Hotel - one of the targets of the 16 May bombings. The city centre became a sea of red-and-green Moroccan flags and echoed to the chants of "Down with hate!" and "United against terrorism!" All 15 suicide bombers are said to have come from the same slum district of Casablanca - Sidi...

Casablanca - The al-Qaeda network contributed more than $50 000 to help organise and carry out last week's suicide bombings in Morocco, the Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat reported on Saturday. "A top leader of al-Qaeda living abroad transferred more than $50 000 several months ago to Morocco to pay for the execution of the operation," the newspaper, which is edited in London and Casablanca, said, citing Moroccan officials did not wish to be named. The Casablanca bomb attacks, which killed 42 people including 12 suicide bombers on May 16, have been traced to Moroccan radical groups, and investigators have...

The Casablanca Blasts As in the case of many terrorist strikes, those at Casablanca in Morocoo on the night of May 16, 2003, too, have presently only a small kernel of facts surrounded by considerable speculation. B. RAMAN As in the case of many terrorist strikes, those at Casablanca in Morocoo on the night of May 16, 2003, too, have presently only a small kernel of facts surrounded by considerable speculation. First, the facts: At least 41 innocent civilians -- three of them French, two Spanish, one Italian and the rest believed to be mostly Moroccan -- were killed in...

from the May 23, 2003 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0523/p06s02-wome.html Terror's allure in Casablanca slumThomasville, Morocco, was home to several of last week's radical young suicide bombers.By Philip Smucker | Special to The Christian Science Monitor THOMASVILLE, MOROCCO - One of his best friends noticed the stark changes over the past two years. "He grew a beard and stopped saying hello," says Radaa Abdullah of Mohammed Larossi, who died as a suicide bomber in a massive attack on Casablanca last Friday that killed 41 people. "When he did [greet you], it was only to talk about Afghanistan and those he called great...

After five suicide bombings rocked Casablanca, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI visited Jewish sites targeted in the attacks. He pledged to protect the shaken Jewish community and repair the damage caused by the bombings. NEW YORK, May 18 (JTA) — When Moroccan Jewish leaders were contacted after the weekend’s deadly terror attacks in Casablanca that targeted Jewish institutions, they were asked if they wanted to leave for Israel. “Is Tel Aviv safer?” they reportedly responded. On Sunday, King Mohammed VI reassured Moroccan Jews that he would protect them. Joined by Jewish and Muslim leaders, he toured the Casablanca sites hit by...

Moroccans move to protect tourism as bombers 'admit links to terror network' By Elizabeth Nash in Rabat 21 May 2003 Two of the suspected suicide bombers who struck Casablanca on Friday have indicated under questioning that they had links with international terror networks, the authorities said yesterday. The two had recently returned from "a suspect country", said to be Afghanistan. All 14 killers had been identified, Mustafa Sahel, the Interior Minister, said. They were all poor Moroccans in their twenties, mostly students. One was a car park attendant. At least eight came from the Sidi Moumen shanty town on Casablanca's...

May. 20, 2003 Britain: Morocco blasts undermine peace process By DOUGLAS DAVIS British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has suggested that the 12 suicide bombings in Casablanca on Friday which killed 41 people might have been related to Morocco's support for the peace process. "It is not accidental that we have had these terrorist outrages directed at Morocco, one of the most modern and advanced of Arab societies, and also the terrorist outrages in Israel timed to kill Israelis but also to undermine the peace process." Straw's remarks coincided with a visit to London on Tuesday by Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohammed...

Lair of Morocco bombers found Alastair Macdonald, Reuters Tuesday May 20, 2003 The Guardian The Moroccan police arrested a chemistry graduate yesterday after finding a suspected suicide bombers' lair in Casablanca, and the Saudi authorities detained a gunman outside the US consulate in Dharan. The news came as a senior American official conceded that there was no end in sight to the war on terror. Experts say last week's suicide attacks are evidence that al-Qaida is regrouping. One said that it had replaced its captured military chief, the alleged planner of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Egypt, an Arab ally which...