Spanish Court Acquits Five Moroccans of Terrorism Charges

The court has dismissed the charges against Abderrahmanen Tahiri, alias Mohamed Achraf, designated as the leader of the group, Mohamed El Gharbi, Karim Abdeselam Mohamed and Abdelah Abdeselam Ahmed, accused of the crimes of setting up a terrorist group or collaborating with a terrorist organization, recruitment and jihadist indoctrination. The fifth accused, Lahcen Zamzami, was also acquitted, the charges against him having been withdrawn during the trial.

"There is no evidence of the preparation of a terrorist act, not even an intention to commit said criminal acts" by the accused, the judges stressed in their decision, specifying that they had not detected any terrorist behavior in the accused. The defendants have passed through several prisons, either as defendants or serving a sentence for belonging to a terrorist organization between 2015 and 2019, a period during which they issued and received many letters, most of which "through unofficial channels".

In these correspondences, they established between them a "bond of mutual aid in order to better live the prison life, considering Allah as the main support of their life," explain the judges who add that these letters generally contained "flags, messages and slogans" related to Daesh, songs often used by jihadist terrorist organizations to encourage their militants and fighters, mutually inviting each other to patience and perseverance in order to "continue the fight in favor of the jihadist ideology" once their sentences have been served.

For the judges, it has not been established that the accused have carried out actions in favor of the terrorist organization Daesh, nor that they incited other inmates, friends and relatives to carry out terrorist acts. "The letters are written by inmates, some awaiting trial, and addressed to other inmates with whom they share the same jihadist ideology. In no case has any intention to commit a crime been observed on the part of the accused," the Court ruled.