Mass trial of Islamists accused of terror plot begins in Morocco (Guardian)

[Eugene]

Mass trial of Islamists accused of terror plot begins in Morocco


· 50 charged with planning to overthrow monarchy
· Court to hear of alleged suicide bomb campaign

Ian Black, Middle East editor
Thursday March 22, 2007
The Guardian

Morocco's rumbling "war on terror" faces an important public test tomorrow in a
mass trial of extreme Islamists accused of planning the violent overthrow of the
most liberal regime in the Maghreb.

Fifty members of the Ansar al-Mehdi group are charged with plotting terrorist
acts aimed at replacing the pro-western monarchy with an Islamist state.

Morocco's security services said at the time of their arrest last August that the
suspects were planning an even bigger attack than the bombings that killed 45
people in Casablanca in May 2003. More than 3,000 people have been arrested
since then and hundreds convicted of terrorism charges.

The round-up reportedly followed tip-offs from the British and German
intelligence services. Terrorism is back on the agenda after a suicide bomber
blew himself up in a cybercafe in the Sidi Moumen slum neighbourhood of
Casablanca this month and a new wave of arrests last week. On Monday
magistrates charged a man with leading the military wing of the Moroccan
Islamic Combatant Group and taking part in both the Casablanca attacks and
the Madrid train bombings of 2004.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2039542,00.html