Rabat – The investigating judge at the Tangier Court of Appeal began detailed questioning Thursday of four defendants held in pretrial detention over suspected election fraud during Morocco’s September 23 legislative elections.
The four defendants are being held at Ain Dalia local prison and were transferred under heavy Royal Gendarmerie escort to the Court of Appeal in central Tangier.
The investigation centers on ballot papers discovered at Al Qods School on election day in the Tangier-Assilah constituency. The first hearings involved the president and deputy president of one polling station at the school. Both are being prosecuted in connection with alleged violations involving the ballots.
The judge then questioned the president and deputy president of a second polling station. A direct confrontation between the four defendants is expected as part of the investigation.
The investigating judge is also expected to question four other defendants who are being held in pretrial detention. They include Tangier Mayor Mounir Laymouri, the owner of a tourist apartment building on the Rabat road, the general accountant of a company owned by the mayor, and a school supervisor.
According to details previously released by the Prosecutor General at the Tangier Court of Appeal, technical examinations allegedly showed that an accountant had marked the box corresponding to a political party on ballot papers at the express request of his employer.
The investigation also involved the analysis of surveillance footage from a hotel. Although some recordings had reportedly been deliberately deleted, experts recovered footage showing several suspects inside one of the hotel’s apartments before they left the premises.
A technical analysis of one suspect’s phone also reportedly revealed numerous communications, both before and on election day, with two individuals who are currently being held in pretrial detention.
Laymouri, a member of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), was placed in pretrial detention after appearing before the investigating judge. He had been arrested at Tangier Ibn Battouta International Airport after returning from Malaga, Spain, following the issuance of a national search warrant against him.
A national search warrant had been issued after one of the defendants reportedly named Laymouri during questioning. Authorities later went to his home but did not find him. His departure for Spain through the Bab Sebta crossing subsequently led to the warrant.
Laymouri denied fleeing and told Le360 that his trip had been planned in advance and was unrelated to the judicial developments in Tangier. He was later arrested at the airport and placed in police custody.
He faces charges including allegedly violating voting procedures with the aim of changing or attempting to change the election result, participating in the falsification of a public document, and alleged bribery through an offer, promise, or gift intended to obtain an act.
The questioning and possible confrontations involving the eight defendants are expected to provide additional information for the investigation and supplement the existing case records.
The hearings are being held behind closed doors. The prosecutor’s office has reaffirmed its commitment to closely monitoring the investigation and submitting the necessary legal requests while respecting due process and the law.
Once the investigative sessions are completed, the judge is expected to determine the next steps in the case and set a date for the trial.
