Relatives of victims, survivors and civil society activists in Casablanca on Tuesday marked the 20th anniversary of the deadliest suicide bombings in Morocco’s history. On May 16, 2003, 33 people were killed in five simultaneous bombings, carried out by 12 suicide bombers from marginal slums in the economic capital of the Kingdom, targeting a tourist restaurant, a hotel, a Belgian consulate, and a Jewish cemetery.
Relatives of victims, survivors and civil society activists in Casablanca participated on Tuesday in a concert “Against Oblivion” held on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the deadliest suicide bombings in the history of the city. Morocco.
“We stand every year in front of this monument so that we never forget,” said the head of the Moroccan Association of Victims of Terrorism, Souad Khammal, during a gathering around a memorial commemorating the victims of the tragedy.
“If we forget them, it will be another victory for terrorism,” she told AFP. It is also our way of expressing the importance of clinging to life despite the pain.”
On this day 20 years ago, Khammal’s husband and son were among the 33 dead, most of them Moroccans, who fell in 5 simultaneous explosions carried out by suicide bombers using explosive belts.
Those attacks were carried out by 12 suicide bombers from marginal slums in the kingdom’s economic capital, and targeted a tourist restaurant, a hotel, and the Belgian consulate, in addition to a Jewish cemetery.
Among the survivors of those bombings, Fayash Mesbah, who lost one of his eyes and sense of smell.
“May 16th lives with me daily, but I resist with a lot of effort,” Mesbah told AFP, during his participation in the commemoration on Tuesday. I pray that such a tragedy will not be repeated.”
The ceremony was held in the center of Casablanca, and religious figures participated in it, including representatives of the Jewish and Christian communities.
“moderate moderate Islam”
Those attacks, which were attributed to Al-Qaeda, had a severe impact on Moroccan public opinion.
As a result, nearly a thousand Salafi activists were arrested in several cities, including prominent “sheikhs”, and sentences were issued against them ranging from 17 years in prison to the death penalty, which remains a suspended sentence in practice in the Kingdom since 1993.
These bombings were also followed by the adoption of the Anti-Terrorism Law, which greatly strengthened the powers of the police in this field, and in return drew criticism from human rights activists.
Earlier on Tuesday, about 40 Salafist activists demonstrated in front of the Parliament headquarters in Rabat, to demand the release of the remaining detainees in connection with these bombings, whose number is estimated at “about fifty people,” according to what was announced by the spokesman for the “Joint Committee for the Defense of Islamist Detainees.” Abdul Rahim Al-Ghazali.
This non-governmental body also calls for “opening an impartial investigation into the party that orchestrated these events, which we condemn and we were the most affected by it, after which the anti-terrorism law was enacted, which led to the imprisonment of the Salafists,” Al-Ghazali added.
The committee also calls for the repeal of the Anti-Terrorism Law.
Since the suicide bombings took place, the security services have dismantled many extremist cells and thwarted terrorist attack projects.
In 2015, the authorities established the Central Office for Judicial Research.
This security unit specialized in combating terrorism has managed to dismantle “90 terrorist cells” since its establishment, according to the local news site “Hespress”, quoting its director, Haboub Sharqawi.
These operations resulted in the arrest of more than 1,500 people.
In parallel with its strictness in the fight against terrorism, the Moroccan authorities launched an ambitious plan to restructure the religious field, aimed at combating extremist ideas by spreading the principles of “moderate, moderate Islam.”
Morocco generally remained untouched by terrorist attacks until April 28, 2011, when a bomb exploded in a tourist café in the center of the famous Jemaa El Fna Square in Marrakesh, in an attack that left 17 dead, including foreign tourists.
The outskirts of the city also witnessed the killing of two Scandinavian tourists in late 2018, in a crime carried out by a “terrorist cell” whose ideology was inspired by the Islamic State.
On the other hand, 1,662 Moroccans have joined jihadist organizations in Syria since the war broke out in this country, according to official data.
In recent years, the security authorities in the Kingdom announced the dismantling of many cells loyal to the “Islamic State” organization.
