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Rabat – Two defendants in a Friday court case in the Charles County circuit court in Maryland objected to most questions from a judge as part of their Moorish American ideology. The two US citizens appeared in court following their arrest on gun charges and resisting arrest.
The court case turned into somewhat of a spectacle as the defendants either refused to cooperate or claimed immunity as part of treaties between Morocco and the United States.
The event at the Maryland court followed an earlier case this week as the “Moorish American” group took over an informal gun range in the same state, declaring it “protected under the consular jurisdiction of Morocco.”
The Moorish American ideology blends elements of the US “Sovereign Citizens Movement” that claim these US citizens are exempt from US law because they consider themselves descendants of Moroccan moors. Moors is a historical catch-all term used by Europeans to describe Muslims during medieval times.
According to the US Southern Poverty Law Center, Moorish Americans “believe they were America’s original inhabitants and are therefore entitled to self-governing, nation-within-a-nation status, claiming to possess territories within the United States made up of land they do not legally own.”
Read also: US Police Arrest Armed Group Waving Moroccan Flag After Hours-Long Stand-Off
They equally claim to be above US law because of the 1786 Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, in which ironically Morocco recognized the US and its status as a sovereign nation. For Moorish Americans, this treaty makes them “indigenous” to the United States.
While Moorish-Americans claim to be above US law, they similarly appear to have little notion of laws in their alleged country of origin, as the group has repeatedly been arrested for gun possession and for organizing training with small arms, both are highly illegal in Morocco.
One of the defendants in Friday’s court case, Lamont Butler, going under his “moorish” name of Lamont Maurice El, in 2013 claimed and occupied a $6 million vacant mansion. He claimed that the property was part of a 1836 treaty with Morocco, and therefore belonged to him due to his self-proclaimed title as “consul general” of the “Morocco Consular Court at the Maryland State Republic.”
