Moroccan ISIS Suspects Face Death Penalty in Iraq Amid Torture Allegations

The crime of these Moroccans? Membership in the Islamic State (Daesh) group and advocacy of terrorism, according to the National Coordination of Families of Detainees in Iraq and Syria in a report on arbitrary trials. The Iraqi judicial system is accused of obtaining confessions under "torture".

Like many foreigners in Iraq, the Moroccan prisoners had seen their lives turned upside down following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. Arrested by coalition or Iraqi forces, most of them had been prosecuted without evidence. Since then, international human rights bodies have repeatedly denounced illegal detentions, endless trials, and the use of torture and ill-treatment without any access to a lawyer.

Abdesalam Bekkali, a Tangier resident incarcerated since 2003 in El Hout, and Youssef Menouni, from Fez, are among the death row inmates, according to the National Coordination. Mohamed Aalouchen, arrested in 2006, Abdellatif Tebili, in 2007, and Ahmed Boukadi, 3 years later, were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Since the execution of Badr Achouri in 2011, the Coordination fears that the 10 Moroccan inmates sentenced to death may suffer the same fate. According to Amnesty International, Iraq remains the 4th country that executes the most detainees, after China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.