Sale, Morocco – A Moroccan judge sentenced Adel Othmani to death Friday for plotting and carrying out an April 28 bomb attack on a cafe in Marrakesh that killed 17 people, including eight French nationals.
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The blasts were the deadliest in Morocco since coordinated suicide bombings carried out by Islamist militants in the commercial capital, Casablanca, in 2003.
After the sentence was read out, female relatives of Othmani and others convicted of being his accomplices began crying and screaming, a Reuters reporter in the court room said.
The prosecution has sought the “harshest possible” sentence against Othmani and eight men accused of being his accomplices. The death penalty is allowed under Morocco’s penal code but it has not been carried out since 1992.
Othmani had denied the charges, which included making explosives and committing murder. His lawyers said they would lodge an appeal.
Invited earlier Friday by the three-judge panel to make a final statement before the verdict was given, a bearded Othmani, wearing a grey New York Yankees sweatshirt, said he was the innocent victim of a political plot.
“The whole affair is baseless,” he said.
“There is so much injustice in this country … I’m failing to understand this country. Innocent people find themselves embroiled in cases like this while they are actually being used in political ploys.”
The prosecution case was that Othmani, disguising himself as a guitar-carrying hippie, planted two bombs in a cafe in Jamaa el-Fna, Marrakesh’s most popular tourist attraction.
The interior ministry said he showed loyalty to al Qaeda but local affiliates of the group have denied involvement.
A man convicted of being his leading accomplice, Hakim Dah, was given life in jail.
Seven others were given sentences ranging from two to four years in prison for offences that included being members of an illegal organization, helping prepare the bombing and failing to tell police about the bomber’s identity.
Attending the trial were mostly French relatives of the victims of the attack. Some carried pictures of their slain relatives while others gathered around a female translator.
Lawyers for the victims’ relatives had said they wanted the suspects to be given tough sentences but that they did not want the death penalty.
An Israeli Jewish couple Massoud and Michal Weizman where among those killed in the blast.
A smart country puts terrorist to death, why won’t Israel learn this
that’s the way to do it…halevai israel would react the same way
Nebech in galus! There’s no justice when someone slaughters a Jew! The Arabs dance in the streets when one of us is killed. It’s terrible how the murderers were let free!
Wait. A court in an Arab country sentenced a Muslim to death for killing Jews? Hey! Look over there! It’s a squirrel!
The couple were not Israeli, they were born and grew in Morocco, living at the time in the far east.
May their sould find peace in Gan Eden
messod is actuallyfrom morroco and michal is from montreal, they were such great people ! BDH
Morocco is not the same as the rest of the Arab world. I have been there twice and look forward to going again. They, and particularly their past three kings, have a great admiration for Jews and are sorry that they no longer have Jewish neighbors. They consider themselves the heirs of “Andalusia” of old, and despise extreme Islamism. Sadly, a group of thugs who gained political power made things miserable for Jews in the 50s and 60s and many left. That gang has since been repudiated.
I am not of Moroccan origin myself, but when my friends go back and find their old homes, or their parents’ homes (most of which were legitimately sold, albeit perhaps at bargain-basement prices), they are treated as honored guests. Friends of mine who have gone back to Belgium, Holland and Germany are treated very differently when they go back to find their confiscated property. King Mohammed V was considered one of the chassidei umois haolam for protecting Moroccan Jews during World War 2 when Morocco fell under Vichy rule.
Even when several members of a Jewish family were arrested, and convicted, and very rightfully so, for immense fraud in Morocco, there was no backlash against local Jews.
So the relatives of the terrorist screamed and cried when he was sentenced to death… But they didn’t think about the value of the 17 lives he took away??