Belgium court to try thirteen Moroccans for terrorism

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Brussels
Belgium court to try thirteen Moroccans for terrorism


Brussels---A Belgium court started considering on Tuesday, behind closed doors, the case of thirteen Moroccans suspected of having links with Madrid-Casablanca bombings and of belonging to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), said Belgium authorities.


Among 18 Moroccan suspects involved in this case, only 13 were referred to a magistrate court, following the federal public prosecutor's decision on Monday.

Out of the thirteen, seven are in preventive detention in Belgium, one in Syria, one in Morocco and three others in Spain. Authorities are questioning five others, one of whom will be released for lack of evidence.

“The Belgium court is looking into whether or not try the Moroccan suspects as their lawyers raised suspicion on their involvement in the Casablanca-Madrid attacks,” a Belgium court source told Morocco Times.

“We hope to have a trial before the end of the year” explained a federal public prosecutor spokesman.

The 18 Moroccans are suspected of having links with the perpetrators of the Madrid attacks in 2004 and Casablanca bombings on May 16 in 2003. Some of them are also thought to be close to the Dutch branch of the GICM (Hofstad group). A member of this group, Mohammed Bouyeri, was sentenced last July to a life imprisonment for the murder of the Dutch film director, Theo van Gogh.

Among the main suspects is Moroccan Youssef Belhadj (29), suspected by the Spanish authorities of being the author of videos claiming responsibility for the Madrid attacks.

The Belgian authorities have been sparing details concerning the enquiry, made by the Belgian State Security and foreign information services.

The majority of the accused were taken during two police traps. The first was in March 2004 at Maaseik, on the Belgium-Dutch frontier; the second in June of the same year in Brussels and Anvers


http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/ar...idr=11&id=9297