Casablanca suicide bombers' neighbours speak out against terrorism

2008-10-23

The sentencing of 50 defendants in the Abdelfettah Raydi terrorism case has prompted memories of bombings in Casablanca in 2003 and 2007. Many residents of the terrorists' neighbourhoods seek to dispel the negative images of their communities that are spread in the media.

Text and photos by Mawassi Lahcen for Magharebia in Casablanca – 23/10/08

"Morocco is for us and not for terrorists", according to message painted by children in the El Barrio neighbourhood of Tétouan.

As the high-profile Abdelfettah Raydi terrorism trial came to a close last week, Morocco was reminded of the horrible events that took place in Casablanca in May 2003 and March and April 2007. For residents of some of the kingdom's most impoverished districts, however, the trial has been even more painful, as it draws a connection between these areas and terrorists such as Raydi.

The 50 defendants were handed down a combined total of 260 years in prison by the Terrorism Court last Thursday (October 16th). Individual sentences range from acquittal (4 defendants) to prison terms from 2 to 30 years against the remaining 46 defendants. One woman received a two-year suspended sentence in consideration of her giving birth while in state custody.

The terrorist cell was named for Abdelfettah Raydi, a terrorist who was arrested in connection with the bombings in Casablanca in May 2003, and who later killed himself in a bombing at an internet café in March 2007.

Residents of Raydi's neighbourhood of Douar Skouila feel sorrow and injustice at the association in the media and society at large between terrorism and their home district. The connection was forged when a number of Douar Skouila residents were implicated in the 2003 bombings. It has been perpetuated by the media ever since.

Abdellatif, a cigarette seller in Douar Skouila, blocked the way of the Magharebia photographer and rebuked him for taking photos of the shantytown, saying angrily, "I know why you're here; it's because the court has convicted Abdelfettah Raydi and you have come to take photos of the suicide bombers' neighbourhood."

"Why do you come down here to take photos of us whenever they speak about terrorism on TV, as if we were all terrorists willing to blow ourselves up?" he asked. "Just leave us alone."

Douar Skouila residents regret press portrayals of their neighbourhood as a home to terrorists.

Aicha, who has lived in the area since 1959, said she doesn't understand the reasons that drive young people to terrorism. "I can't imagine how a young man can agree to blow himself up and kill others, even if he was given all the money in this world," she said.

"It's haram; God forbids murder and has banned suicide. What they have done has nothing to do with religion. I think they have been deceived," she concluded. Douar Skouila is not the only area suffering from a negative reputation due to terrorism. In the city of Tétouan, where several recruitment networks for suicide bombers destined for Iraq have been dismantled, many residents have the same feelings.

"I was greatly shocked because of the way the media has dealt with news about the terrorist cells in Tétouan," said Halhoul Abdelhamid, a resident of the city's poor "El Barrio" neighbourhood.

"All the headlines began talking about Tétouan as if it were a hotbed for terrorism, and that all of Tétouan's young people were longing for Jihad and to blow themselves up in Iraq. This is a great injustice," he said.

Meanwhile, children in his neighbourhood have rejected these depictions by writing anti-terrorism slogans and drawing on the walls of some houses.

Moroccan sociologist Mohammed Ayadi told Magharebia that living in shantytowns can't be considered a defining characteristic of terrorists. "The social structure of the cells that have been dismantled in Morocco and abroad shows that the practice of terrorism is not restricted to the residents of marginal and poor neighbourhoods," he said.

"On the contrary, the masterminds behind terrorism usually belong to well-to-do families in society. However, the fragile social condition and the poverty of the residents of these marginal neighbourhoods make it easy for others to attract and use them as a means to carry out their criminal acts," Ayadi added.

Living in shantytowns can't be considered a defining characteristic of terrorists, argues sociologist Mohammed Ayadi

In order to fight terrorism effectively, Ayadi said, Morocco must attend to the social conditions of residents of these neighbourhoods, integrating them into society and improving their living conditions.

Ayadi praised the actions taken by the Moroccan government to curb the spread of religious radicalism in the nation's mosques and Islamic schools. Nevertheless, these actions will not solve the problem of terrorism on their own; terrorist cells rely too heavily on personal and familial relations and foreign support.

The importance of personal connections was illustrated by the number of defendants in the Raydi case belonging to the same family.

Moroccan security agencies have dismantled more than 15 terrorist cells since 2005, the most prominent of which were "Qaeda of Jihad in Islamic Maghreb", "Qaeda of Arab Jihad", "Ansar Al Mehdi", "Islamic Liberation Army", and the "Belliraj Cell".

The Belliraj trial is currently under way at the Terrorism Court in Salé.