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February 19, 2008
Morocco: "Islamist Network" Broken
News from International Herald Tribune, Reuters, Associated Press, Middle East Online, Maghreb Arabe Presse and Lloyd's,:
Yesterday, Moroccan security forces arrested 23 individuals and claimed that a jihadist network had been broken up. The news was conveyed by state news agency Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP), which claimed that the group had links to other groups in Morocco and abroad. The leader of the group, who was among those arrested, has been named as Abdelkader Belliraj.
Two other individuals were named as being arrested. These were Mustapha Moatassim and Mohamed Merouani, who lead Islamist political groups. Mustapha Moatassim is the secretary general of the Al Badil Al Hadari (Civilizational Alternative) Party. During 2007 elections, Moatassim vowed his party would "create a society that stands together, where social disparities would be reduced; a society that highlights the equality of chances in terms of investments and production, a society characterized by the culture of local consumption for the good of development process and open to the great mutations in the world."
Mohamed Merouani (Marwani) is secretary general of the secretary general of Al Oumma (The Nation). Neither Oumma nor Al Badil Al Hadari have seats in parliament.
Mae El Ainain Abadila (aka Alaa Badella Ma-El Ainin) is a pharmacist from Rabat. He is also a politician belonging to the Justice and Development Party (Parti de la Justice et du Développement or PJD). This opposition Islamist party has 46 of the 325 seats in the Moroccan parliament. Abadila comes from the Sahara and heads a commission on the Western Sahara, which has been trying to secede from Morocco.
Today, a full list of 32 people who belong to the network has been published by MAP. The leader of the group is said to be Abdelkader Belliraj, a Moroccan living in Belgium. He has been detained in Morocco. Two other individuals are also said to be former residents of Belgium.
The Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain, or GICM has been active in Belgium, though this group is not listed in reports.
Another of the arrested individuals is a reporter, Abdelhafid Sriti. He works as a correspondent for the Al Manar TV channel, which is related to Hizbollah. A police superintendent, Mohamed Chaabaoui, and a professor, Hamid Najibi, were also among the arrested.
The information on the activities of this "Islamist network" are not mentioned, though on Monday, police stated that they had broken "a major terrorist network with Jihadist (holy war) roots, which was preparing to carry out acts of violence on the national territory."
In May 2006, 330 people were arrested and briefly detained by Moroccan authorities following rumors of a plot to stage an uprising. Most of those arrested belonged to the Al-Adl was al-Ihsane (Justice and Charity) party, which is unrelated to the PJD. Al-Adl was al-Ihsane has 250,000 members and though regarded as an opposition party was not officially recognized as a political party. Following the crackdown, many leading members fled to Spain.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 19, 2008 3:58 PM
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