Moroccan ISIS Supporter Sentenced to 2.5 Years in Spanish Prison for Terrorist Indoctrination

The prosecution asked the court to sentence the defendant Mohamed Louarti, born in Morocco and residing in Malaga, to eight years in prison for a crime of integration into a terrorist organization, or failing that, to 6 years in prison for a crime of terrorist recruitment and indoctrination, or to 4 years for passive terrorist indoctrination. The trial, which was to start on Wednesday and end on Thursday, did not ultimately take place because the parties agreed to an arrangement before the hearing. The Moroccan’s defense managed to reach an agreement of two and a half years for the last of the three crimes, namely passive indoctrination, according to legal sources consulted by Europa Press.

According to the prosecution, Louarti, "after a stay in Belgium in 2013, has been engaged since his arrival in Spain in an intense process of self-indoctrination via the Internet in terms of jihadist terrorism, to eventually join the criminal organization Daesh." The Moroccan began by searching for jihadist content on the Internet, "with the aim of training in the postulates of Daesh and being able in turn to train others" and was even able to access "closed content" and coded documents, explains the prosecution, which indicates that the defendant, after the Barcelona attacks in 2017, created the Facebook profile "Anwar Andalusi" on which he published "the actions and postulates of Daesh, praising their authors and justifying their activities, urging true believers to wage jihad."

On January 4, 2019, he posted on his Facebook profile an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State, considered as "a preliminary step to reach paradise through martyrdom," explains the prosecution. "I have sworn allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, in absolute obedience," he wrote, before adding: "I am a soldier of the Islamic State."

Faced with this "high degree of radicalization," according to the prosecution, Louarti was arrested on January 15, 2019 and placed in pre-trial detention. A search of his home led to the seizure of three mobile phones, three SIM cards, a large knife and 500 airsoft bullets. He had been on provisional release since February 24, before this arrangement was reached between the prosecution and his defense.