Morocco Denies Reports of Israeli Criminals’ Extradition, Calling It "Fake News"

Israeli and Moroccan media had announced that Golan Avitan and Moshé Beit Adah (Chico) were going to be extradited via Madrid, to then be transferred to Israel, since Morocco and Israel do not have an extradition agreement. An anonymous Moroccan security source has refuted the information.

At the very moment the media were announcing the information, the two individuals were in the dock, in courtroom No. 8 of the Court of Appeal in Casablanca, the source told Hespress. They were accused of involvement in the file of the network of naturalization of Israeli citizens to obtain Moroccan nationality.

Regarding the "secret agreement with Morocco", the source stated that at the time the information was relayed, the two accused had spent the night in their cell, in the local prison of Oukacha in the city of Casablanca, by virtue of the criminal decision.

The well-informed Moroccan security source also certified that the Interpol office in Rabat has not received any extradition request from any foreign judicial or security authority. Similarly, the alleged visits of Moroccan police officials to coordinate with their Israeli counterpart, the transfer process, are false, she noted. Currently, the two Israeli citizens involved in these rumors are in detention in Morocco and are being tried on the basis of Moroccan law, for the criminal acts they have been accused of.

For the record, extraditions must be subject to formal procedures based on international agreements and national laws, the Moroccan security source specified.