Mass trial

last updated 8 January 2015

Casablanca

Morocco put 700 suspected Islamist militants on trial this week, the result of a wave of arrests stemming from suicide attacks in May. Forty-four people, mostly Moroccans, died in 12 nearly simultaneous suicide bombings of Jewish and Western targets, and Moroccan authorities blamed the radical group Salafia Jihad. But some Moroccans fear that the government is being overzealous in its efforts to hunt down the guilty. Human-rights groups allege that some of the suspects have been tortured. “I am not saying these people are innocent,” said Aboubakr Jamai, editor of the Casablanca daily Le Journal, “but knowing the Moroccan police and judiciary, I expect the worst in terms of transparency and the rules governing trials.”