Mental Health Issues, Not Terrorism, Behind French Woman’s Murder in Morocco

The 79-year-old victim had been killed on January 15 in a market in Tiznit using a bladed weapon. She lived in a nearby campsite. The accused, a 31-year-old Moroccan, was also suspected of having committed, on the same day, "an attempted murder" using a bladed weapon on a 65-year-old Belgian woman in Agadir, where he had been arrested.

An investigation had been opened the same day by the anti-terrorist police, suspecting "a terrorist motive for the crime." In its decision, the criminal chamber of the court in Rabat concluded that "the perpetrator is criminally irresponsible."

The judge pointed to the many signs of "mental disorders" affecting the accused and ordered his hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital.