- A court in Morocco today jailed 14 Islamists between three and four years for threatening national security. The main suspect, Abdelhamid Jaafar, and two others were given four year jail term while 11 others got three years.
According to 'News24', the 14 members of the Islamic Liberation Party, Hizb Attahrir al-Islam, who were arrested in October this year, were accused of having links with a Jordanian group suspected of having set up terrorist cells in five towns of Morocco - Casablanca, Temara, Meknes, Tangiers and Tetouan.
The prosecutor asked the court not to exercise mercy on the Islamists who limp with the philosophy of the banned party, holding meetings as well as favouring the Islamic caliphate. The Islamists were also accused of receiving foreign funds to bankroll anti-institutional propaganda.
All the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges because according to them, their meetings had only been discussing problems of the Muslim world.
The Islamists' defence counsel, Mustapha Ramid, argued that his clients were being tried on the basis of presumption and intention instead of facts.
Morocco has been known to go hard on Islamist tendencies in the politically unstable kingdom. Islamist parties have been banned from presenting candidates at elections and several pro-Islamist newspapers have been banned. Rabat authorities fear any well-organised Islamist group quickly could gather widespread support among the Moroccan population, which is unhappy with lack of progress and reform.
Morocco has not been spared from extremist attacks either, and several al Qaeda cells are known to have operated in the kingdom. The May 2003 terrorist bombings in Casablanca were the worst in the country's history, and the March 2004 Madrid bombs were planned by al Qaeda cells in Morocco.
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