Fictitious party leader sentenced to 10-year prison term

The court of appeal of Rabat on Friday handed down a 10-year prison sentence against Mohamed Alouah, who pretends to be leading a party for the liberation of Moroccan Algeria.

The man was standing trial for "setting up a criminal association with the aim of plotting and carrying out terrorist attacks, mis-information and libel allegations likely to trouble public order and membership in an unauthorized party."

Last November, the Prosecutor of the First Instance Court of Rabat announced the opening of an inquiry into the alleged "Front of Liberation of Moroccan Algeria," an organization so far unknown in Morocco, which claimed to have conducted attacks in Algerian territory.

The Prosecutor said he took this decision "following information published by some newspapers and containing serious data from a so-called organization calling itself "Front de Liberation de l'Algerie marocaine" in which it claimed having waged attacks on Algerian territory."