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Rabat – The parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and Moroccans living abroad elaborated on a valuable report on Moroccans who have joined ISIS and remain stranded in conflict zones, particularly in Syria and Iraq.
The committee was formed at the request of the Authenticity and Modernity party (PAM) in parliament, it was attended by members from all political parties, and was chaired by Abdellatif Ouahbi, Secretary General of the PAM.
Unique Situation
Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita spoke at the committee meeting. He said that the case of ISIS is different from most other terrorist organisations, in that it’s main goal is not solely terror and chaos, but “is a state plan, one with a government, a territory, an economy ..”
To Bourita, this explains the phenomenon of family migration, as opposed to people individually leaving for Afghanistan, Chechnya, or Bosnia for terrorist organizations.
The committee investigated the current situation of Moroccans who have left the country for Syria and Iraq to join ISIS since 2011. The investigation also included Moroccans who migrated to join other extremist organisations.
The report states that 1,659 Moroccans have gone to Syria and Iraq since the emergence of ISIS and other terrorist organizations in the Middle Eastern countries.
Among these Moroccans, government officials say there are close to 300 women and more than 628 children and minors.
While presenting the report on Tuesday, the committee stated that these numbers have not remained unchanged, as many Moroccan jihadists died in armed conflict, or have returned home.
Other Moroccans are reported to be held in Syrian and Iraqi prisons, or living in camps in Syria, Iraq, or Turkey after the fall of ISIS.
Women and Children
The study gave particular interest to the case of Moroccan women and children stranded in conflict areas, either in camps or in unidentified locations. The report also listed what Morocco can do to repatriate its citizens, and deduce the consequence they may face.
The report says that the identified Moroccan male fighters have committed offenses under the Moroccan Criminal Code, as the legislation criminalises joining terrorist organisations.
In the event of their return and extradition to Morocco, they must be referred directly to the competent judicial authorities in order to face prosecution as decided by Moroccan law.
With regards to women, the report made an interesting distinction on the basis of intent.
The report distinguishes between women who migrated out of an ideological and religious conviction, and those who simply obeyed their husbands, according to the religious belief that “obedience to the husband is obedience to God.”
The former will face the same prosecution under Moroccan criminal law as their male counterparts, whereas the latter will have to be subject to an adjusted sentence.
The report specifies that “the discretionary power of the judiciary and the implementation of mitigating conditions may contribute to distinguishing between participants and perpetrators of the criminal act with intent and will, and between the availability of the moral element or not.”
This creates a seemingly insurmountable challenge for the Moroccan judiciary.
Substantial Numbers
Mostafa Ramid, Moroccan minister of human rights, said that the total number of fighters having returned to Morocco is 270 people. He added that 99 women and 82 children were among the returnees, as of May 17, 2021.
Whereas Minister of Interior Abdelouafi Laftit told Media24 that 345 ISIS fighters have returned to Morocco. He added that they each were prosecuted under national legislation that punishes joining a terrorist group.
The report sheds light on the regional origins of Moroccans joining the terrorist group.
A total of 90 Moroccans are from the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, north of Morocco.
The second and third areas with the highest numbers of fighters are the Fez-Meknes region (53) and the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region (52) respectively.
Among Moroccans residing abroad, a total of 20 fighters migrated to the conflict zones.
According to Bourita, the difficulty of classifying binationalsin the conflict areas is one of the biggest challenges Morocco faces..
The returnee fighters with dual nationality constitute an interesting finding of the report. The report singles out 3 Moroccan-French fighters, 3 Moroccan-French Canadians, a Moroccan-Dutch fighter and 1 Moroccan-Russian fighter.
The Minister also highlighted the challenging question of identity verification. Most fighters had their official documents destroyed upon arrival, as required by internal ISIS protocol.
Challenges Ahead
Tracking the fighters’ movements from one country to another is also a factor making Morocco’s mission all the more challenging, as ISIS members usually take secret routes to avoid arrests.
Bourita added that to these constraints, the difficulty of verifying the paternity of children of Morcoccan nationals in the conflict areas due to the fact that marriages involving suspected Moroccan nationals often occurs without contracts or official documentation.
The report sheds light on both the academic level and professional status of Moroccan ISIS returnees. The majority of Moroccan ISIS fighters whose identities have been confirmed have a secondary school education level (120), followed by primary school educated fighters (80), and 77 fighters with a highschool education. An additional 18 fighters were registered as illiterate.
Illiteracy, lack of access to education, and unemployment are often cited as key factors in the radicalisation process. But in the case of the Moroccan fighters, over 200 are professionally active and about 44 of the returnee fighters are university educated.
Morocco has been a regional leader in counterterrorism, and is one of the most active countries in the world in the fight against extremism both domestically and internationally, as an important partner to many countries in the field.
The committee’s report paints a picture of the profiles of previously unknown Moroccan extremists. As one of the safest countries on the continent, Moroccans rarely receive true insights into who these extremists are, how they got to their beliefs or where they end up after being arrested.
Adding to the public’s concern, is the security threat the returnees could pose, once they integrate back into Moroccan society.
Morocco’s government faces a difficult task, on one hand it needs to identify and process former ISIS fighters, while ensuring domestic security through a successful reintegration of families returning from the tumultuous Middle East.
