A military court in Somalia has released the six Moroccan nationals who were sentenced to death two months ago for joining the Islamic State (ISIS), according to Somali news outlet Garawe Online.
The news outlet mentioned that the court ordered the release of six individuals to the custody of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, which will facilitate their repatriation to their home countries.
The chairman of the military court Abdifatah Haji Adnan said that “the convicts, including Ethiopians and Moroccans, had surrendered to Puntland after escaping the Daesh group.”
On 29th February, the VOA News reported that nine suspects, including seven foreigners – six of them Moroccan nationals – were sentenced to death by a military court in northern Somalia. It added that the charges against them were terrorism-related. The said source noted that the foreign convicts were specifically “accused of training with Islamic State at their base at Cal-Miskaat Mountains in the northeastern region of Somalia.”
However, the accused Moroccan group stated that “they were haplessly misguided about training with the group and wanted to be deported to their home countries, arguing that they had voluntarily surrendered to the security forces.”
VOA News added that “the Moroccans admitted before the court that they were members of ISI for two years,” quoting Colonel Ali Ibrahim Osman, the deputy chairman of the court.
In late March, several Moroccan human rights associations united in urging Moroccan authorities to intervene and save the lives of six Moroccan citizens facing a death sentence in Somalia.
The joint statement was signed by six associations, including the Moroccan Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the Justice for Fair Trials Association, and the Lawyers’ Network Against the Death Penalty.
Some of the individuals claimed they had traveled to Somalia in search of employment and were unaware of the recruiters’ intentions.
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