Family of Slain Moroccan PhD Student Offered Money to Drop Charges

Four months later, Badr Bouljoihel’s family is still in shock. "From what people have said after watching the video (of the murder of her son, editor’s note), the scene has been drawn in my head, it’s no longer necessary to see it. It’s very hard for me," laments Fatima in a testimony received by TelQuel. She adds: "I wouldn’t wish anyone to live what I’m going through with the children. No one supports the separation from Badr, neither me, nor his family and his friends."

Badr Bouljoihel, a doctoral student-researcher at the Faculty of Science and Technology in Mohammedia, was killed on the night of July 30 in a McDonald’s Aïn Diab parking lot. In a video circulated on social media, we see individuals - rich kids - inflicting violent blows on the 23-year-old man. One of the attackers, the owner of a large Audi Q8 4x4, gets into his vehicle to crush Badr’s body. This horrible crime had shaken Aïn Diab, an upscale neighborhood in Casablanca. The day after the tragedy, the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) announced the arrest by the judicial police of Casablanca, in coordination with their counterparts in Laâyoune, of the main suspect.

Four other suspects were later arrested. All are accused of voluntary manslaughter and criminal conspiracy. The families of these suspects have offered "large sums of money", assures Fatima. She says she has declined their offer. Her wish is that "justice be done to her son". Badr’s mother said the police investigation conducted under the supervision of the public prosecutor’s office was "closed five weeks ago". It remains to set the date for the start of the trial. The mother is demanding the maximum sentence for the five accused in this case. Understand: the death penalty which has not been applied in Morocco since 1993. "The public opinion is closely following this case and several people are asking me where it stands. I tell them that I trust the justice system and that the public prosecutor’s office will do what is necessary," says Fatima.

The main suspect is a man known to the justice system. In 2018, he had been sentenced to 7,500 dirhams for involuntary manslaughter, as well as two other fines of 300 dirhams each for his involvement in a fatal traffic accident. At the time, the Public Prosecutor’s Office had appealed. The following year, the defendant saw his sentence increased. He had been sentenced to one year in prison, a fine of 30,000 dirhams and the withdrawal of his driver’s license for a period of two years. Except that this judgment is not yet final, so it has not yet been executed. "If justice had been done to the first victims, all this would not have happened," regrets the victim’s mother.