Rabat – Fez Police in collaboration with the Territorial Surveillance Directorate General (DGST) arrested on Saturday morning a 19-year-old trainee from the city’s Institute of Applied Technology (ITA).
The student, believed to be 19 years old, is accused of condoning terrorist acts in his social media posts.
The suspect posted a publication on his Facebook account in which he “praised” the terror acts that targeted people in two mosques in New Zealand on Friday, according to a statement issued by the National Security Directorate General (DGNS).
The New Zealand attacks left 49 people dead and at least 50 more injured, and have been widely condemned by an outpouring of support and sympathy for the victims and their family. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the attacks “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”
According to statement from Fez’s security services, the ITA trainee will be referred to the Judicial Investigation Central Bureau (BCIJ) for further investigation into his perceived espousal of extremist views.
In Morocco, incitement to terrorism in Morocco is currently punishable by five to fifteen years in prison. Until 2015, the charge was punishable by two to six years in prison. The law changed following concerns about the repatriation of fighters from zones of conflicts in the Middle East.
Elsewhere, other inflammatory reactions to the tragedy in New Zealand incurred the wrath of world leaders and internet users.
After news emerged of the terrorist attacks in New Zealand, Australian Senator Fraser Anning controversially blamed the attacks on Muslims, claiming that “massive Muslim migration” to New Zealand was normalizing violence in the country.
