80-Year-Old Moroccan Ex-ISIS Member Seeks Royal Pardon, Prison Transfer

Mustapha El Harrak, 80, is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Meknes, far from his family who live in Tangier. He was one of the Moroccans who joined the Islamic State (IS) in Syria in 2014. He was later joined by his wife and children. They will spend four years there. But the difficult conditions will force them to return to Morocco. The family man will be arrested, convicted, and imprisoned. His deteriorating health upon his return to the country has improved. Today, he is asking for the pardon of King Mohammed VI. Failing that, he is asking for lighter conditions or a reduced sentence. His son is asking the prison administration to transfer his father to Tangier to facilitate family visits, reports Al3omk. He confides that he has not been able to see him for about 12 months due to the distance. He has also sent requests for the octogenarian to benefit from a reconciliation program.

Some 1,659 Moroccans went to the Syria-Iraq region to fight alongside Daesh. 774 of them - 387 children, 136 women and 251 fighters - are still stranded in the region, according to data previously communicated by Habboub Cherkaoui, director of the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ). There are more than 10,000 Islamic State fighters in prisons in Syria, as well as a potential "next generation Islamic State" made up of tens of thousands of children living in displacement camps across northeastern Syria, and "free-range" Daesh fighters targeted in Syria, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.