Moroccans continue to demand justice for Thami Bennani, despite absence of corpse

Moroccan social media creators and local news outlets have revived the case of Thami Bennani, a young Moroccan man who has been missing for 15-years, since 2007, and has been presumed dead.

During Morocco’s quarter-final African Cup of Nations game against Egypt this Sunday, January 30, a banner bearing the boy’s now familiar face was overlooking the game on the Moroccan side of the stadium.

Moroccan rapper El Grande Toto brought the banner, in addition to t-shirts bearing the boy’s face, while attending the game in Cameroon, to further shed light on the case, which has captivated the attention of Moroccans for weeks.

Thami Bennani has been missing since March 14, 2007, aged 17 at the time. He was last seen accompanying his high school friends on a road trip to Paloma beach, on the outskirts of Casablanca, to celebrate a friend’s birthday in the evening.

Thami had not come back home that night, and despite his mother seeing him leave in his friends’ car, the group of youngsters later denied having seen him that day.

As she continued to search for her missing son, Thami’s mother, retired teacher Hayat Alami, discovered various rumors surrounding her son’s disappearance in the high school he attended.

The girl whose birthday Thami was celebrating on the day he disappeared allegedly confessed to Hayat that her son died of an overdose, causing his friends to burn his body and throw his remains at sea to avoid criminal charges.

The female friend later refuted this story, telling police that she did not even see Thami that day and that none of Alami’s claims were true.

Despite several leads initially discovered due to the mother’s relentless search for her son, developments on the case were slow.

An investigation by the national brigade of the judicial police brought to light a phone call between two of Thami’s friends, confirming the death of the young high school student of an overdose, in the presence of his friends.

Thami’s body remains missing, as multiple corpse DNA tests turned out to be negative, and the alleged culprits have yet to appear before the court.

The case went cold for over 15 years but was revived by a Moroccan true crime YouTuber Safaa, who interviewed the mother and featured her on her channel, as the case managed to mobilize public opinion.

Several testimonies began to filter out on a possible version of the events of the evening.

In the meantime, the mother claims to have received death threats on the phone following the strong media coverage of the case and the large solidarity campaign, under the hashtag #JusticeForThamiBenanni.

Administrators and other active members of the group “in solidarity with Thami Bennani,” having gained multiple followers on social media, have also published screenshots of death threats received via Facebook Messenger and other platforms.

Hayat Alami managed to gather new evidence to convict three of the friends, now accused in this case, and currently placed in pre-trial detention. Today, Thami’s mother continues to fight to restore the truth.

The trial for the disappearance of Thami was postponed last Wednesday, January 26, for the 4th consecutive time, but the social media sphere is relentless in its pursuit of justice for the young “exemplary boy.”