Reuters AlertNet Lite - Chaos erupts at trial of 50 Moroccan Islamists

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Chaos erupts at trial of 50 Moroccan Islamists

23 Mar 2007 16:01:52 GMT
Source: Reuters

RABAT, March 23 (Reuters) - Chaos erupted at the trial of 50 Moroccan Islamists accused of plotting to overthrow the monarchy after they began hurling abuse at the judge for delaying their hearing a third time on Friday.

Some climbed onto a glass wall dividing them from the public section of the courtroom and shouted that the trial was a charade and the accusations against them trumped up to please Morocco's staunch ally the United States.

"You are spies for America," one cried. "You'd sell you own people to America in exchange for a few dollars."

"I have four children. What did I do to end up here?" cried another with tears in his eyes. Many of the defendants seemed to be in their late teens or early twenties and included four women.

Some relatives began weeping and one woman fainted before security officials removed the families from the courtroom. The protests continued, then reporters were also told to leave.

The judge said he was delaying the trial until June 8 to give more time to find lawyers for 21 of the prisoners but after the protest he agreed to bring forward the hearing to May 25.

A lack of defence lawyers had been the reason for the last delay in January. The group has been behind bars since they were rounded up in swoops on five towns last August.

They are charged with belonging to militant Ansar el Mehdi (Mehdi Partisans), undermining public order and collecting money to fund attacks.

RIGHTS

Prosecutors say the group wanted to overthrow the monarchy that has ruled Morocco for almost five centuries and replace it with an Islamist state. If convicted, they face up to 30 years in prison.

Rabat's secular-minded government has said the capture of the group proved the existence of an increasingly sophisticated menace to the stability of the kingdom of 30 million.

On March 11, a man detonated explosives he was carrying under his clothes at an Internet cafe in Casablanca, killing himself and wounding three others.

It was the first such attack in the country since 2003, when suicide bombs detonated in the economic capital Casablanca killed 45 people.

Officials said the Mehdi group was planning an even bigger attack and had recruited members of the police and the military.

Their case is seen by foreign diplomats and human rights activists as a test for the government's pledges to balance its fight against radical Islamists with respect for human rights.

Security officials say police have broken up more than 50 radical Islamist cells, some linked to al Qaeda, and arrested more than 3,000 people since the 2003 bombings.

Local human rights groups accuse the authorities of abusing the rights of arrested people. Many of them, they argued, had been detained on unfounded suspicion of links to terrorism.

The government denies any abuse and says anti-terrorism trials in Morocco are fair and respect the rights of defendants.

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Last updated:Fri Mar 23 16:06:10 2007