Morocco Jails Frenchman for “Terrorist” Links

A Moroccan appeals court has sentenced a Frenchman to four years in prison after he was convicted of financially supporting a “terrorist” cell, a case that has alarmed rights groups. Thomas Gallay, a 36-year-old engineer, was detained in February 2016 in the resort of Essaouira on Morocco’s Atlantic Coast. He was initially given six years in jail but the sentence was reduced on appeal by a court in Sale near Rabat, Arab News reported. International rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, in November voiced concern about the case and what they called “convictions based on tainted ‘confessions’”, in Morocco. According to the Frenchman’s mother Beatrice Gallay, he was accused of giving $74 to an acquaintance involved in the case. She said that her son had been convicted on the basis of “false confessions” that he was asked by police to sign in Arabic, even though he does not understand the language. The prosecutor argued in the final indictment that all procedures were carried out in accordance with the law, denouncing the “lies of the foreign press” about the case.