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Pushing
Islam to the extremes
By Ilhem
Rachidi
RABAT, Morocco - During his sermons, Hassan
Kettani would incite his followers to observe a
radical vision of Islam, at odds with the official
and more open Maliki rite of Morocco, in order to
build a "non-depraved" society free from Western
influence. Under the complacent eye of the state,
he delivered fiery speeches calling for jihad
against the US and its allies.
In February
2003, the young, popular cleric was arrested, four
months before five simultaneous terrorist attacks
struck Casablanca, Morocco's business capital,
killing 44 people, including the 11 suicide
bombers.
Kettani was later sentenced in
connection with the attacks to 20 years in prison.
Abdelwaheb Rafiki, known as Abu Hafs, also
arrested prior to the attacks, was given a 30-year
sentence. He considers himself a prisoner of
opinion and reaffirmed his hardline beliefs in a
recent interview to the Spanish daily ABC.
"My crime is that I have denounced the
Americans who kill our women and our children in
Palestine and who have invaded our land in
Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.
Last
month, Hassan Kettani, Abu Hafs, as well as Omar
Haddouchi and Mohamed Fizazi, two other leading
clerics convicted of being the ideological leaders
of the Salafia Jihadia extremist nebula and for
having "inspired" the attacks, started a trial of
strength with Moroccan authorities by remaining on
hunger strike with hundreds of Islamist convicts
for more than 20 days in prisons throughout the
country.
Their publicized move drew
intense discussions on their ideological role in
the attacks, which prompted the adoption of tough,
controversial anti-terror legislation and a raking
in Islamist ranks.
Out of 1,024 so-called
Salafist convicts, 665 officially took part to the
movement, in an attempt to attract maximum
attention a few days before the second anniversary
of the attacks.
The prisoners urged for a
review of their trials, an international
investigation into the attacks and their immediate
release. "Open the doors of the jail or bring the
shrouds," they said.
"This hunger strike
has political goals, not humanitarian ones,"
declared Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa, who
reportedly viewed it as an "Islamist blackmail".
It took 12 days of intense negotiations
between mediators and the militants to
progressively soften the mobilization, in exchange
for promises to review their dossiers.
Mustapha Ramid, a prominent member of the
official Islamist Party of Justice and Development
and the lawyer of Hassan Kettani, was part of a
delegation that met representatives of the
detainees at the central prison of Kenitra a few
days ago. He described the atmosphere as one of
hope and expectation among the prisoners, who feel
they are "the victims of an injustice".
Ramid insisted there's no legal procedure
to retry the prisoners for now, but he counted on
a review of their cases in order to obtain a royal
pardon.
Forty-four Islamist prisoners were
pardoned following the national celebration of the
circumcision of Crown Prince Moulay Hassan in
early May.
Many strikers, however, refused
to ask for a royal pardon, claiming they are not
guilty of anything. "I'll never ask [for] the
royal pardon. It is up to the authorities to ask
us for pardon," Fizazi recently declared to the
local newspaper al-Jarida al-Oukhra.
According to their supporters, they did
not plan the attacks and the Salafia Jihadia is an
invention of the Moroccan secret services. But
even though the Salafia was not a structured
organization as described in the aftermath of the
bombings, it was a sphere of influence that had a
major ideological impact on the bombers.
The Ministry of Justice, in its refusal to
deal with the detainees as a group, seemed to
avoid any recognition of what might become a
political and opposition force.
Describing
the early demands as "high", Ramid explained a
direct negotiation with authorities would have
better benefited the movement. "It's difficult for
the state to yield to [them] because [they're]
asking for [their] release. I'd have liked [them]
to ask for the opening of a dialogue in order to
find a just solution to [their] case." But, he
added, "They've just started to make politics.
They're going to make a faux pas and then they'll
understand."
Some analysts fear the
prisoners might radicalize themselves during their
detention and become organized contestants to the
regime.
Islam specialist and political
science professor Mohamed Darif drew attention to
the birth of an organized movement, able of
planning collective actions. "The organizational
dimension did not exist before their detention.
The dangerous thing in this strike is that we
moved to another stage, from spiritual to
organizational links," he said. "This is
dangerous. We are not in front of one cleric
preaching jihad anymore. Now there's a hierarchy."
Ramid, who was slightly critical of the
up-front strategy adopted by the militants,
nevertheless believed the strike succeeded in
attracting public attention. "[Public opinion] was
against them, it thought they were terrorists," he
argued. "Now people have started to think there
were hundreds of innocents [sentenced]."
Local human-rights activists and prominent
members of the civil society called for an end to
the strike for fear of casualties - it did claim
one life, although one person, Khalid Boukri,
officially died from digestive tuberculosis - and
strongly voiced their opposition to the irregular
trials which took place in the aftermath of the
attacks, over which 2,112 people were charged and
903 found guilty, including 17 who were sentenced
to death.
But Morocco's political class
agreed not to soften its stance on radicalism.
Today, local politicians seem to be short of ideas
to extract themselves from this now appeased
crisis.
Critics also see US pressure to
carry out a tough security policy in the region. A
major partner in the US-led "war on terror",
Morocco will have to balance its international
commitments with its internal political tensions.
"The decision to free [the prisoners] is
not a sovereign decision. There's a partnership.
The engagement of Morocco towards its partners has
to be taken into consideration," said Darif.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us for information
on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
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