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February 21, 2008

Morocco: Islamist Party Banned

On Monday February 18, 23 individuals were arrested in Morocco, accused of being part of an Islamist network. By Tuesday the amount of detainees had risen to 32.

On Tuesday, information about the reasons for the arrests were vague. The group was said to have links with Islamist groups in Morocco and abroad. Moroccan police had claimed that ""a major terrorist network with Jihadist (holy war) roots, which was preparing to carry out acts of violence on the national territory."

The leader was named as Abdelkader Belliraj, a Moroccan who also lived in Belgium. Two leaders of minor Islamist political parties were also arrested. Mustapha Moatassim was secretary general of the Al Badil Al Hadari (Civilizational Alternative) Party. This party, only given authorised status in 2005, had contested 2007 elections but had not gained any seats.

Now, according to Middle East Online and state news agency Maghreb Arabe Presse, Moroccan prime minister Abbas El Fassi has announced that the Al Badil Al Hadari party has been banned by prime ministerial decree. This decision was taken "on account of the proven links between the (dismantled) network and the creation of this party."

Weaponry has also been found, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The cache included nine Kalashnikovs, two Uzi machine guns replete with six magazines and a silencer, seven Skorpio sub-machine pistols with ten chargers and 5 silencers, 16 automatic pistols and other munitions and detonators.

The network had financed itself through crime, with proceeds from a 2001 robbery at the HQ of Brinks, Luxembourg being smuggled into Morocco. The amount from this raid was nearly $4 million. The money was then laundered through businesses, tourism projects and real estate.

Additionally, jewellery stolen in Belgium was also smuggled into Morocco. The jewellery was melted down to produce gold ingots by one of the individuals arrested.

Morocco's Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa gave a press conference yesterday, where he explained that the weaponry had been retrieved from the addresses of the suspects. Benmoussa said the group had been in contact with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001.

From 2001 to 2004, the "Belliraj" network was connected with the Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain, or GICM. In 2001, 2003 and 2004 the group had links with the GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) in Algerian terror training camps in 2005.

Since the end of 2006, GSPC has become officially allied to Al Qaeda, and now goes under the name "Al Qaeda in the Maghreb".

The Interior Minister said the group had tried to get terrorist training from the Hizbullah-run camps in Lebanon in 2002. He said that the "Belliraj" network was planning to use explosives in terror attacks, to assassinate Moroccan ministers, civil officials, military heads and some Moroccan Jewish citizens.

Chakib Benmoussa gave further details of Abdelkader Belliraj, leader of the network. This individual had aliases such as "Ilyass" and "Abdelkrim". Between 1986 and 1989 he had carried out six murders in Belgium, and had set up his terror network in 1992. In 1996 the group had also tried to assassinate Moroccan Jewish citizens, and had planned other attacks between 1992 and 2005.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 21, 2008 10:31 AM

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