Prosecutor requests maximum sentence penalty for alleged member of underground group

The public prosecutor in the court of appeal of Rabat requested on Monday the maximum penalty provided by the penal code against Bendaoud Khamli who is suspected of belonging to the underground extremist group "Al Hijra Wa Takfir."

The accused is sued for murder attempt with premeditation, corpse dissimulation, apostasy of all the society and the adoption of certain stands against Moslem cemeteries and education methods. Previously, the court had rejected a defense request to summon a witness in the case, Abdelaziz Boukhlifi, to be confronted with the defendant.

At the opening of the audience, the court heard a defendant's relative, Abdelmajid L'gareh, a court clerk in Rabat who is sued for criminal association and involvement in the purchase of a dinghy that Zouhair Tabiti (who was condemned to 10 years in jail part of the process of the "sleeping Al-Qaida cell"), intended to use for the perpetration of terrorist acts.

Meantime, the public prosecutor of the Rabat appeal court requested on Monday capital punishment against Pierre Robert, a French national, and four members of his ring, sued in connection with the terrorist attacks that rocked Casablanca May 16, making 45 dead and scores of injured, and alleged members of his group.