Marrakech – Morocco’s National Commission charged with applying UN Security Council sanctions, known by its acronym CNASNU, added 10 new individuals to the country’s local terrorism list on Monday. The listings target Moroccan nationals accused of ties to the Islamic State (Daesh) and to al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Sahel.
The commission reached the decision during a meeting at its headquarters at the Ministry of Justice, chaired by Hicham Mellati, who supervises the body. Members approved the list unanimously, in keeping with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. The additions followed the commission’s determination that the 10 had met the “objective conditions for inclusion.”
From the date of listing, all 10 face an immediate freeze of their assets, a ban on transactions, and a travel ban. The individuals concerned, along with public institutions and legal persons under public or private law, are each responsible for carrying out the decision within their own remit.
The names span several theaters of operation. In Iraq, Said Bellaagreb, born December 5, 1979, in Meknes and known by the alias “Abu Suhaib al-Maghribi,” is identified as the deputy emir of ISIS’s Kirkuk province.
Three of the listings concern Syria. Aziz Ait Ouzrou, born April 4, 1988, in Bensergao, joined ISIS in the Syrian badia.
Abdellah El Moussaoui, born May 5, 1992, in Bougherman and nicknamed “Abu Musab” and “Abu Ahmad al-Muhajir,” joined ISIS in Syria in 2013 and is now located in Brazil, where he is the subject of a national and international search warrant.
Rida Laabas, born August 16, 1989, in Ouazzane, is tied to ISIS’s migration and logistics committee; he left Morocco on August 24, 2017, heading toward Turkiye, where available information places him at the border. He was convicted of forming a gang to prepare and commit terrorist acts aimed at seriously harming public order, and sentenced to two years in prison.
A further four listings relate to ISIS activity in Somalia. Karime Ahouda, born July 8, 1991, in Casablanca, and Mohammed Anouar El Bakkali, born November 16, 1986, in Tangier, are each described as holding a leadership position in the group’s Somalia branch, in charge of coordination, financing, and recruitment.
Said Naciri, born July 16, 1979, in Ait Asri, and Youssef Buzikri, born November 6, 1985, in Tangier, also hold leadership roles in the organization in Somalia, serving as leaders in its migration bureau (“Diwan al-Hijra”).
Outside the ISIS listings, El Mahdi Regragi, born June 5, 1986, in Beni Mellal, is named as a leader in the media arm of Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), al-Qaeda’s branch in the Sahel. He was convicted of deliberately providing assistance to a person committing terrorist acts and of failing to report terrorist crimes, and sentenced to two years in prison.
The tenth individual, Mustapha Dihani, born February 14, 1998, in Laayoune, is currently on trial. The charges against him include forming a gang to prepare and commit terrorist acts within a collective project aimed at seriously harming public order through intimidation and violence, joining terrorist organizations in an organized collective framework, praising terrorist acts and a terrorist organization along with propaganda on its behalf, and managing funds intended for terrorist acts.
The decision rests on a broad legal basis. The commission cited Morocco’s anti-money-laundering law 43.05, as amended by law 12.18, and the anti-terrorism law 03.03, alongside the 2021 decree that defines the commission’s composition and functioning.
It also invoked UN Security Council resolutions 1373 (2001) and 2462 (2019) and the standards of the Financial Action Task Force, together with its own January 13, 2022 decision setting the procedures for listing and delisting.
Decision No. 1/2026 takes effect upon publication on the commission’s website and is also published in the Official Gazette.
The commission framed the update as part of its attention to listing procedures in line with relevant international standards.
It linked the step to stronger coordination among concerned sectors and institutions, developing information-exchange mechanisms, verifying the identity of the persons involved, and ensuring the accuracy of available data, measures it tied to curbing the risks of terrorism financing and arms proliferation and to the effective application of targeted financial sanctions.
