RABAT,
May 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Moroccan parliament
overwhelmingly adopted a controversial anti-terrorism law in the wake
of the Casablanca multiple bombing 11 days ago, as a suspect
mastermind of the attack died in detention on Wednesday, May 28.
The
upper chamber passed the bill with 89 votes in favor and seven
abstentions. It had been already passed by the lower house of
parliament on May 21, five days after bombings in Casablanca near
western and Jewish targets killed 43 people and injured more than 100,
in mid-May 2003.
The
law, which also broadens the definition of terrorism and makes it
easier for courts to hear cases classified as terrorist, had been
strongly criticized by human rights groups, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
Under
the new legislation, a terrorist act would be defined as "any
premeditated act, by an individual or a group, that aims to breach
public order through terror and violence."
The
law, which enters into force once it is published in the government
gazette, also expands the number of crimes punishable by death.
The
government had withdrawn the bill for amendment in April 2003 after
fierce criticism from Moroccan rights groups that it will stiffen
penalties and ease police work in terrorism cases in the wake of
multiple Casablanca bombings.
Suspect
Dies
 |
|
Demonstrators
take to the streets to protest against terrorism in Casablanca
|
In
another related development, the suspected mastermind of the
Casablanca blasts has died of heart and liver problems while in
detention, the city's prosecutor said.
Abdelhaq
Moulsabbat had been arrested on Monday, May 26, in the central city of
Fes, where its poor districts are reputed to be strongholds of radical
groups, Moulay Abdellah Alaoui Belghiti told state television
Moulsabbat
died while being taken by investigators from Fes to Casablanca, the
prosecutor said, without saying when he died nor how old he was.
"He
(Moulsabbat) suffered chronic heart and liver diseases. His liver
weighed 2.1 kilograms (4.6 pounds) against the average 1.4 to 1.5
kilograms (3.3 pounds)."
The
dead suspect was the "general coordinator of the attacks"
and "emir" (commander in Arabic) behind the attacks on five
central Casablanca locations, said the prosecutor.
Authorities
have traced the attacks to Moroccan radical groups and implicated an
"international terrorist network" without directly naming
Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network."
There
are indications that the blasts were probably the work of a North
African cell linked to al-Qaeda, the BBC News Online
reported.
In
the past, Osama Bin Laden's network has carried out similar
coordinated suicide bombings against Western or Jewish targets.
The
carnage in Casablanca came four days after a triple bombing in Riyadh
and amid fears that a resurgent al-Qaeda was planning fresh strikes in
the wake of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.
