Several Moroccan human rights associations have united in urging Moroccan authorities to intervene and save the lives of six Moroccan citizens facing a death sentence in Somalia, according to a joint statement released on Tuesday.
The joint statement was signed by six associations, including the Moroccan Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Justice for Fair Trials Association, and the Lawyers’ Network Against the Death Penalty.
The associations expressed alarm at the verdict handed down by a military court in northern Somalia, which sentenced the six Moroccans to death by firing squad on charges of affiliation with the ISIS organization.
According to the statement, some of the individuals claimed they had traveled to Somalia in search of employment and were unaware of the recruiters’ intentions.
Their lawyers confirmed their desire to return to their homeland, stating that an extremist group had misled them. They have appealed, pinning hope on the appellate process.
The Moroccan associations strongly condemned the death sentence imposed on their compatriots, asserting that it violated their fundamental right to life, which cannot be justified even for the most serious crimes.
The statement called on Moroccan authorities to take urgent action to save the lives of these citizens from the threat of execution and facilitate their repatriation to their homeland before it’s too late.
Colonel Ali Ibrahim Osman, the deputy chairman of the court, indicated that the men had traveled to Somalia with the specific intention of supporting IS.
This marked the first instance of foreign IS members being charged and sentenced in the semi-autonomous Puntland region.
The court sentenced an Ethiopian and a Somali to 10 years in prison each, while another Somali was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
The militants were apprehended in the Cal-Miskaat mountains, a known IS stronghold located east of Puntland’s commercial center, Bosaso.
Somalia’s IS branch, established in 2015 by defectors from the larger al-Shabab group, primarily engages in small-scale attacks and extortion of local communities, according to the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The frequent use of the death penalty in Somalia for terrorism-related crimes has drawn criticism from human rights organizations.
In 2023 alone, at least 55 executions took place, with 23 conducted by military authorities in Puntland and Mogadishu.
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