Moroccan Court Acquits Drug Kingpin of 2007 French Murder Charge

More than two years after his arrest at Casablanca airport, a Moroccan court has acquitted Reda Abakrim, 40, of the murder of Brahim Hajaji committed in France in 2007, for which the Versailles Assize Court, near Paris, had sentenced him to 21 years in criminal confinement. The criminal chamber of the Casablanca court "acquitted him, so he will be released," said the lawyer for the civil party Mohamed Aghanaj. Dissatisfied with this decision, he intends to appeal.

The lawyer recalled that the Franco-Moroccan was first arrested for using a false passport before the police discovered that he was the subject of an international arrest warrant after a 21-year prison sentence in France in a murder case related to drug trafficking.