4 Sentenced to Die for Casablanca Bombings
CASABLANCA, Morocco — A court early today sentenced four men to death in connection with suicide bombings in Casablanca three months ago.
The judges found the four guilty of premeditated murder in the five simultaneous attacks May 16 in which 45 people were killed, including 12 suicide bombers. The 33rd civilian victim died of his injuries Friday.
Two of those sentenced to death were part of the 14-member suicide team. The defendants all pleaded not guilty.
The four were among 87 defendants accused of belonging to the Salafist Jihad, an Islamic movement that advocates violence against U.S. interests and Jews in Morocco and against Muslims it finds insufficiently observant.
The judges also sentenced one mosque cleric to life imprisonment, and three other clerics to 30 years in jail each. They were accused of having inspired the bombings through their preaching.
Morocco has carried out the death sentence only once in the last 20 years.
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