Spanish Court to Try Moroccan Suspects for Alleged ISIS Plot

The National High Court will try on Tuesday two suspected jihadists of Moroccan origin, who were arrested on May 20, 2020 in Bolaños de Calatrava (Ciudad Real).

One of the two defendants, Sidi Badr El Baqali Baquia, who arrived illegally in Spain in 2017, would be the most radicalized, says the prosecutor, who adds that he is a member of the Islamic State and was arrested while preparing an attack in Spain. The other, Abdelouahed Dahbani Ettamini, is considered one of his collaborators in his indoctrination tasks.

According to the investigators, the main defendant created a profile on Facebook, with which he sent on May 13, 2020, a membership request to the Aafaq (Horizons) Electronic Foundation, "a cyber group that aligns with the Islamic State" and which "gives instructions to jihadists on how to escape the surveillance of Western authorities," the prosecutor said.

Arrived in Bolaños de Calatrava, he maintained contacts via his Facebook profile with Hassan Farhoud, a member of Daesh involved in the attack on Al Quait airport in Aleppo (Syria) as well as with other radicals. From the same profile, he also posted radical messages. Since 2019, he has started indoctrinating the Takfiri ideology at home in Bolaños with the second defendant.

The prosecutor’s office has requested three and a half years in prison against the two defendants for the charge of jihadist indoctrination, to which three additional years of probation will be added.