Reduced sentence for Swiss ‘terrorism’ suspect in Morocco
In April, Nicolas was convicted on three counts: participation in a terrorist act, supporting terrorism, and withholding information relating to a crime.
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A Swiss man sentenced in April to ten years in prison for “forming a terrorist gang” has had his sentence reduced to five years by the Moroccan courts, according to reports from his lawyer on Monday.
The 33-year-old computer technician, whose first name is Nicolas, was originally arrested on January 10 in Temara, near the Moroccan capital Rabat, during a wave of arrests following the beheading of two young Scandinavian tourists in mid-December in the Atlas Mountains.
In April, Nicolas was convicted on three counts: participation in a terrorist act, supporting terrorism, and withholding information relating to a crime.
The reduced sentence was announced last Wednesday by the appeal chamber of the antiterrorism tribunal of Salé, according to his lawyer Khalil Idrissi.
“This is an unfair conviction that is not based on any proven facts,” Idrissi told the Agence France Presse news agency.
According to Idrissi, the Swiss was arrested for receiving an e-mail from a dual Swiss-Spanish citizen who was one of the 24 men prosecuted for the double murder. Nicolas was also accused of having had explicit exchanges with other Swiss nationals suspected of having links with Syria.
The Swiss-Spanish national was sentenced to 20 years in prison in connection with the so-called “Imlil murders”. Appeal proceedings have been ongoing since August 27.
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