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Morocco jails 29, including politicians and sports figures, in drug trial

Morocco jails 29, including politicians and sports figures, in drug trial

Casablanca court delivers landmark verdict in ‘Escobar of the Sahara’ case: up to 12 years for top figures. By AFP and AP Published On 26 Jun 202626 Jun 2026 A Moroccan court has handed prison sentences of up to 12 years to 29 individuals – including prominent politicians and sports figures – concluding a major international drug trafficking and corruption trial. The verdicts, delivered late on Thursday in Casablanca following a two-year trial, mark one of the largest anti-corruption operations in Morocco’s history. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Among those convicted were Abdennebi Bioui, a construction tycoon and former regional council president, Said Naciri, former president of Casablanca’s Wydad AC football and sports club and former MP Belkacem Mir – all senior members of the governing PAM party. Naciri received 10 years, Bioui 12 and Mir 10. Besides the three main defendants, sentences for the remaining ranged from two to nine years, depending on their individual role in the network. The wide-ranging case was triggered by courtroom testimony from El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim, a notorious Malian drug trafficker nicknamed the “Pablo Escobar of the Sahara”. Currently serving a 10-year sentence in Morocco, Ben Brahim told judicial investigators that his former Moroccan political and business associates had betrayed him, seizing millions of dollars worth of his luxury real estate and vehicles following his arrest in 2019. The trial involved more than 20 defendants, 18 witnesses and two civil parties which centred on a sophisticated network that transported tonnes of Moroccan cannabis resin across North Africa to Europe, alongside Latin American cocaine shipments. Family members of Moroccan public figures Said Naciri and Abdennabi Bioui react as they are given 10 and 12 year prison sentences for a major drug trafficking scheme [Abdel Majid Bziouat/AFP] Defendants were convicted on charges including drug and gold trafficking, corruption, forgery and money laundering. Advertisement The court also ordered the seizure of assets and levied hundreds of millions of dollars in customs and exchange fines against the principal ringleaders. Moroccan media reported that families of the convicted, present without legal representation due to a lawyers’ strike, were left in shock, with some collapsing in the courthouse. The scandal reached the highest levels of state, prompting King Mohammed VI to demand a legally binding code of ethics aimed at “moralising” parliamentary life. Adblock test (Why?)

EU targets Somalia with visa curbs as president pushes back on returns

EU targets Somalia with visa curbs as president pushes back on returns

President says his country will readmit genuine nationals but insists Europe must first verify deportees’ identities. Published On 26 Jun 202626 Jun 2026 Mogadishu, Somalia – The European Union has imposed visa restrictions on Somali citizens, escalating a dispute with Mogadishu over the return of Somalis living in Europe illegally. The bloc’s member states approved the measures on Thursday, acting on a report that Somalia was not doing enough to take back nationals who had been refused the right to stay. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pushed back, saying his government would readmit its citizens, but said that many returnees were not Somali nationals. “We haven’t rejected our people; they own this country. And we cannot reject them,” the president said at an Independence Day event on Thursday, adding that Somalia had “questions about how those people would be returned.” People across the Horn of Africa share a similar appearance, he said, and some present themselves as Somali to claim asylum in Europe. He pointed to past cases in which individuals sent back as Somalis turned out not to be, including some who “don’t know the Somali language.” “If they are Somali, then we’ll take them. If they aren’t, we’ll help you find out where they are from, and you can send them there,” Mohamud said. The pressures driving people to leave are rooted in decades of upheaval. Somalia is still rebuilding after the collapse of its central government in 1991 and the long civil war that followed. Recovery efforts have been stifled by the ongoing armed rebellion of al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked armed group that has waged deadly attacks since 2006. Advertisement Those conditions have pushed many young Somalis to attempt the dangerous journey to Europe, often through Libya, where migrants have faced detention, extortion and violence. The prime minister regularly handled such cases, Mohamud said, adding that Somali embassies had been instructed to help citizens return. Magnus Brunner, the bloc’s migration commissioner, said countries of origin had to meet their commitments “otherwise, there can be consequences.” A European Commission assessment concluded that Somalia’s cooperation on readmission was insufficient. Under the new rules, member states can no longer issue multiple-entry visas to Somalis, and the fee waiver for holders of diplomatic passports has been removed. The standard processing time for visa applications has also been extended from 15 to 45 days. The suspension has no fixed end date and is intended as leverage to push Mogadishu towards closer cooperation. Somalia now joins a short list of countries hit with such measures. The EU imposed similar restrictions on The Gambia in 2021 and Ethiopia in 2024, lifting the Ethiopian curbs in May after deciding cooperation had improved. The visa restrictions add to a run of setbacks for Somali travellers. The United States imposed a sweeping travel ban in 2025, after President Donald Trump returned to office, covering citizens of a dozen countries, including Somalia. The policy drew attention this month when Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named Africa’s referee of the year in 2025, was denied entry to the US and couldn’t officiate at the World Cup, despite holding a valid visa. The standoff comes as the EU tightens its wider approach to migration, pursuing return centres beyond its borders and faster deportations for people refused the right to stay. Adblock test (Why?)

Why has the UN paused plans to evacuate sailors from the Strait of Hormuz?

Why has the UN paused plans to evacuate sailors from the Strait of Hormuz?

The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) has suspended plans to evacuate more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz after a cargo ship transiting the waterway was struck by a projectile. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said several crews had already been evacuated, but the agency had decided to pause the operation until there were “necessary safety guarantees” for those involved. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a Royal Navy maritime security agency, said on Thursday that a cargo vessel had been struck by “an unknown projectile” about 7.5 nautical miles (14km) southeast of Dahit, Oman. No casualties were reported. The incident comes despite a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the United States and Iran last week that ended hostilities and included provisions aimed at reopening the strategic waterway. Iran had restricted passage through the strait in early March after the US and Israel attacked it on February 28. In April, the US imposed a naval blockade on Iran-linked vessels trying to pass through the waterway. Since the MoU was signed, commercial traffic has restarted through the strait, but key disagreements remain over which shipping routes vessels should use — and whether Iran gets to charge a toll or fee. Oman and the IMO have proposed a new shipping corridor that would partially bypass waters under Iran’s direct control. Tehran has rejected the plan, saying it was announced without consultation and raises safety concerns while demining operations are still under way. While Iran has not claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack on the ship off Oman, it has not denied any role, either. Advertisement The latest attack has heightened concerns that tensions over navigation through the strait remain unresolved. Here’s what we know. Why is the UN evacuating sailors? Following the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28, Tehran and Washington imposed counter restrictions on the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, leaving thousands of seafarers unable to leave vessels trapped in the waterway. More than a dozen sailors have also been killed in attacks on ships — some from American missiles, others from Iranian projectiles. Most of those killed were from India. Even with last week’s agreement between Washington and Tehran to end the conflict, more than 11,000 sailors remain stranded in the strait. Announcing the evacuation plan on Tuesday, the IMO’s Dominguez said the operation would be conducted in “close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States and the maritime industry”. Oman’s Ministry of Defence said the operation, which had been under discussion for months, would be carried out in phases. Denmark also announced on Tuesday that it would join a multinational maritime mission led by France and Britain to help restore safe navigation through the strait. Why was the ship attacked? The Singapore-flagged cargo vessel Ever Lovely was struck by what authorities described as an “unknown projectile” while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. Ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the vessel had been following the southern shipping route proposed by the IMO earlier that day, a corridor that passes closer to Oman’s coastline and has been rejected by Iran. Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said the vessel had since completed its transit through the strait and was continuing its voyage, adding that all 21 crew members were safe. The authority said it was “deeply concerned” by an attack it described as “unprovoked, unjustifiable, and a breach of international law”. “All actions affecting international shipping must fully comply with international law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and not endanger the safety of seafarers and ships at sea,” the MPA said. The incident prompted the IMO to suspend its planned evacuation of stranded sailors. Dominguez said the Ever Lovely “did not transit under IMO’s evacuation framework”. “I have always reiterated that the safety of the seafarers remains paramount. Therefore, to ensure a coordinated approach and navigational safety, the evacuation plan will be paused until further clarity is obtained,” he said. Advertisement What has Iran said? While it remains unclear if the attack was carried out by Iran, the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had criticised the new shipping corridor announced by Oman and the IMO, while also warning that passage through the strait, “is only possible via routes announced by Iran,” the state broadcaster IRIB reported. Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, has said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be guaranteed for vessels transiting “with ambiguous arrangements, parallel routes, or decision-making outside of Iran’s considerations as the coastal state”. “Any credible framework must be based on coordination with Iran and the provisions of paragraph five of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding,” he said in a statement on X. “Otherwise, the outcome will be the suspension of the designated parallel route.” Iran first published its own map of approved navigation routes in April, directing ships to sail much closer to the Iranian coastline than before the conflict. The IRGC’s latest warning came after a Liberian-flagged oil tanker transited the strait on Thursday using a route closer to Oman’s coast. On Friday, a further three foreign oil tankers that attempted to cross the Strait of Hormuz “without authorisation” were turned back after a warning from the IRGC, Iranian state TV reported. Analysts say control over the Strait of Hormuz has long been one of Tehran’s most important sources of strategic leverage, allowing it to exert pressure on the US, whose economy is inextricably tied to global markets. Why was the evacuation suspended? Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar Atas said the attack appeared to show Iran was prepared to enforce its warnings over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran insisted vessels using either the Iranian or Omani route must coordinate with its authorities. “Yesterday, Oman announced new routes for the passage of the ships. But then the IRGC released a statement, saying that