Morocco Cracks Down On ISIS Backers

By Mohamed Saadouni in Casablanca
for Magharebia

Spanish police on December 16th escort a woman arrested in Melilla during a joint operation with Morocco against Islamic State supporters [AFP/Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda]

Security forces in Morocco recently mounted a campaign of arrests in several cities, targeting suspects who declared their loyalty to the Islamic State (ISIS).

Efforts were focused on metropolitan Casablanca, Fez, Boulemane, Marrakesh, and Nador.

Some were interrogated then released, while others were referred to the public prosecutor on January 7th on terror charges. Sixteen remain in pre-trial detention.

Judicial police in Fez and Nador dismantled small cells working to recruit young people for Daesh.

The suspects were referred to the judicial police for further investigation and to explore their relationship with the cell that was recently dismantled to attract Moroccan women and girls, candidates for marriage to fighters in Iraq and Syria.

Mohamed Akdid, security analyst at the Directorate General for National Security (DGSN), told Magharebia that the arrests were “normal precautionary campaigns to ensure security and find clues about sleeper cells that are preparing for terrorist acts”.

Akdid revealed that investigators seized with the arrested group religious books with a takfiri orientation, CDs promoting salafi thought, and pamphlets supporting ISIS and calling for jihad.

Their electronic accounts bearing pseudonyms also showed their relationships and their association with Moroccans fighting in the ranks of ISIS.

Sources close to the investigation said that some of the detainees who were interrogated were known for their activities on social networking sites, especially Facebook and Twitter.

They were allegedly promoting ISIS by sending images of Moroccans working for the terror group to accounts and social networking sites of Moroccans at home.

Those who are not involved in what our sources described as “the campaign to prepare for a mass migration of salafi ISIS supporters from Morocco” will be released, while those involved will be referred to the Sale court specialised in terrorism.

According to Abderrahim Ghazali, a spokesman for the Joint Committee for the Defence of Islamist Detainees, only 16 people are still under investigation at the headquarters of the national division of judicial police in Casablanca.

Prisoners were asked about their daily activities, their presumed relationships with Moroccans abroad, their opinions on the situation in Syria and Iraq, their positions on ISIS, Ghazali said. The questions focused exclusively on the extent of the salafi movement in Morocco.

Abderrafie Abu Yassir, a detainee from Fez who was interrogated and released, told Magharebia he was “called in a friendly and tactful way by security forces”.

“They listened to me with regard to my relationship with one of the salafi brothers and my position on ISIS,” he said.

“I explained my position, which rejects violence,” he added. “To be honest, they treated me gently and I collaborated with security elements, who were very generous. They even served me mint tea, and provided me hot water for the ablution of Asr prayer; then released me.”

Adil Maarouf, a former salafist prisoner who revised his views, told Magharebia that he thought the campaign was normal and fell in the context of public security.

“I think that security officials have the right to listen to every person with suspicious ties and intentions regarding public security,” he said.

According to criminologist Rashid Almanasfi, ISIS was “strongly betting on Morocco and on the responsiveness of young Moroccans to the appeal of global jihad”.

“ISIS has a lot of money that it uses to recruit supporters and train them to be supporters in Morocco,” he said.

Almanasfi added that there were meticulous security crackdowns among returnees from Turkey.

It is no longer possible to travel to Turkey without submitting to questioning about the reason and objectives of the visit, he said.