Financial Times
From Jais Mehaji, London, UK
© AFP
Sir, Heba Saleh writes, in “Spain atrocities throw spotlight on Moroccan militants” (August 22), about the prominent role of men of Moroccan origin behind the recent terrorist attacks in Spain.
But the ability of Moroccans to conduct terrorist attacks in Europe has less to do with Moroccan authorities letting them “direct their energies elsewhere”, as Issandr el-Amrani is quoted as saying, and more to do with worryingly lax security measures in Europe. It was in fact Moroccan counter-terrorism intelligence that helped France and Belgium thwart a number of terror attacks, and it was Moroccan intelligence that helped locate Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the orchestrator of the November 2015 atrocities in Paris.
It is no secret that terrorists travel freely at will throughout Europe, bypassing security measures. And most of these vile terrorists are born and raised and, more importantly, indoctrinated in European capitals by militant Imams who were welcomed with open arms by London and Paris.
Morocco has not had a major terrorist attack since 2003 for the simple reason that it takes pre-emptive steps to dismantle cells, rather than reacting once lives have been lost. It may have to do with Europe’s quixotic obsession with protecting the human rights of murderers, but it is wrong to suggest that Rabat is encouraging would-be foreign fighters to travel unhindered rather than risk committing acts at home. If anything, Morocco is shouldering more of a burden than it should — and in the process is having its reputation as a successful partner in the fight against terrorism tarnished.
Jais Mehaji
London SW3, UK
Letter in response to this letter:
Beware of drawing too simple conclusions on counter-terrorism / From Seán Smith, London, UK
