THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2008
10:19 MECCA TIME, 7:19 GMT
Dozens held over Morocco plot
Moatassim is alleged to be linked to a "terror
network" [AFP]
Morocco authorities say a network, rounded up by
police this week, had planned a spate of political
assassinations and carried out crimes internationally.
The government also outlawed al-Badil al-Hadari, a
small Islamist party, on Wednesday after the police
linked its leader to the alleged "terrorist network".
Mustapha Moatassim, the party's secretary-general, was
among 32 people arrested on Monday and Tuesday.
The arrests, including Islamist politicians regarded
as law-abiding, have sparked astonishment in Morocco,
according to local newspapers.
Mohamed Ayyadi, spokesperson of al-Badil al-Hadari,
said:"For us, it is astonishing news because since we
founded our party we have made it clear that democracy
is our goal and we've proved that when we were among
the first parties to condemn al-Qaeda and the use of
violence in politics."
The detainees are accused of planning to kill senior
army officers, government ministers and some Moroccan
Jews, Chakib Benmoussa, the interior minister,
announced on Wednesday.
He told a news conference: "The network has a
two-pronged strategy: one for political activity, with
al-Badil al-Hadari as its public face, and another
clandestine focusing on military action.
"The network set up a military wing named Special
Action Group."
He said the party, whose name translates as Civilised
Alternative, had links with an organisation called the
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) and Algeria's
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which
last year changed its name to Al-Qaeda Organisation in
the Islamic Maghreb.
According to Benmoussa, the network had contacts with
al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001.
He said it sought to organise training with Hezbollah
in Lebanon in 2005, and that some members had access
to training in making explosives.
Benmoussa said members of the network, launched in
1992, had carried out murders in Belgium, where its
Moroccan leader, Abdelkader Belliraj, lived.
He added that Belliraj had allegedly killed six people
in Belgium between 1986 and 1989.
Cash and weapons
According to Benmoussa, a large consignment of weapons
found by police had been financed by hold-ups abroad,
notably one on a security firm in Luxembourg in 2000.
Benmoussa said the group had carried out
crimes internationally [AFP]
Police found at least 34 weapons, including
Israeli-made Uzi and Kalashnikov assault rifles and
machine guns, in raids on homes and offices of the
suspects.
The minister said a member of the network working with
European criminals had held-up a Brussels subsidiary
of security firm Brink's CO in 2000 to steal 17.5
million euros.
"The heist from this hold-up enabled the network to
introduce the equivalent of 30 million dirhams [$3.89
million] in 2001 to Morocco to fund its activities,"
he said.
The money was laundered through investments in
tourism, real estate and businesses across Morocco.
Jewellery stolen in Belgium was also smuggled into
Morocco and turned into ingots by a goldsmith, who had
also been arrested.
Arrests
The 32 suspects also include a police officer and a
journalist.
Abdelhafid Sriti is the Rabat correspondent of the
Lebanese television station Al-Manar, which belongs to
the Shia Hezbollah organisation.
Three Moroccans resident in Belgium, including
suspected leader Belliraj, are among those indicted.
The allegations against Moatassim were the first
levelled at a leader of a legal Islamist party.
Abbas El Fassi, the Moroccan prime minister, said in a
statement that the decision to ban the party, was
taken "on account of the proven links between the
(dismantled) network and the creation of this party".
Attacks
Following a suicide attack in Casablanca in May 2003
that left 45 dead, Morocco adopted a law aimed at
tackling extremist movements.
But the independent Le Soir paper noted it was the
first time since then that leaders of Islamist parties
had been arrested for suspected terrorist links in
Morocco.
Two further bomb attacks in Casablanca followed in
2007, while there was an attempted suicide attack
against foreign tourists in Meknes, east of Rabat, in
August last year.
Morocco's government says it has broken up more than
60 cells of terror suspects since 2003. It has
arrested more than 3,000 people in the process.
Source: Al Jazeera and Agencies
---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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