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Rabat – The National Court in Spain found last week two men guilty of attempting to recruit young Moroccans to terrorist groups including ISIS in Donostia, north-western Spain.
Europa Press reported on Sunday that Spain’s National Court found Mohamed C. and Anass.E guilty of carrying out “massive” recruitment for terrorist organizations, such as ISIS and Al Qaeda.
The two suspects were targeting young Moroccans in Donostia, the Spanish outlet said, adding that the public prosecutor’s office requested nine years in prison for Mohamed and five years for Anase for the crime of “terrorist indoctrination.”
Once released, the suspects would also face eight years of supervision, and each of the defendants will pay a fine of €3,000.
Mohamed.C took advantage of his position as an imam or preacher of the mosque in Herrera and at the Islamic Cultural Association in San Sebastian to find new recruits, including children.
According to the investigation, Mohamed C had contacts with other members that were publishing propaganda materials glorifying terrorism.
He and Anass E collaborated on social networks to “extol jihadist terrorist groups, their members and leaders, justifying their activity and inciting the commission of violent actions and suicide attacks,” according to Europa Press.
The preliminary investigation established that Mohamed. C had been running a “massive activity” online since 2012, with an “enormous capacity for disseminating content.”
Messages sent to targeted people for recruitment mentioned terror attacks, such as September 11 in Newyork.
“One of them, published on December 9, 2013, was a “gory image of a man dressed like a soldier who had died violently,” the news outlet added.
As it has been targeted by numerous terrorist groups in recent years, Spain has been intensifying efforts and collaboration to combat terrorism.
The European country maintains a strong counterterrorism collaboration with Morocco, one of its strongest allies in the field.
On April 30, an anti-crime cooperation deal between Spain and Morocco entered into force.
Spain and Morocco signed the agreement in February 2019 to tackle all forms of organized crime, particularly terrorism.
During Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s visit to Morocco in April, both countries agreed to intensify cooperation as part of their new roadmap for sustainable and ambitious cooperation.
Last week, Spain transferred to Morocco a previously convicted extremist involved in the March 11, 2004 attacks in Madrid, one of the most heinous attacks in Spain’s history. The terror attack resulted in the killing of 193 people, with over 1,800 injured.
