Moroccan Father Pleads for Government Action to Save Son Sentenced to Death in Ukraine Conflict

After his sister, it is now his father’s turn to launch an appeal to the Moroccan government. Taher Saadoun held a press conference on Monday, June 27, in which he called on the Moroccan authorities to intervene "to save his son", sentenced to death on June 9, along with two Britons, by the Supreme Court of the "Donetsk People’s Republic" for "participating in the fighting in Ukraine as mercenaries," reports Hespress. His wish is that the strong mobilization around Rayan, the 5-year-old boy trapped in a 45 cm diameter deep well after an accidental fall, be organized to avoid the execution of Brahim.

During this meeting with the press, Taher Saadoun addressed his son’s religion. "He renounced his conversion to Islam and claimed to be a trans-religious out of fear of being accused of being loyal to the Islamic State," "for fear that his words would be translated into foreign languages and misinterpreted, ultimately being accused of allegiance to the Islamic State and Islamic terrorist groups," he said. Contrary to what some images shared on social media suggest, Brahim is neither a supporter of "Zionism" nor a member of "Satan worshiper" groups, the father of the Moroccan fighter assured, specifying that his son’s Facebook account was "hacked" just after his capture in Mariupol in April.