Moroccan Security Forces Arrest Lebanese Affiliated With Hezbollah

Foreign currency and different driving licenses were discovered at the home of the Lebanese suspect in Casablanca Wednesday [GettyImages]
Foreign currency and different driving licenses were discovered at the home of the Lebanese suspect in Casablanca Wednesday [GettyImages]
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Moroccan Security Forces Arrest Lebanese Affiliated With Hezbollah

Foreign currency and different driving licenses were discovered at the home of the Lebanese suspect in Casablanca Wednesday [GettyImages]
Foreign currency and different driving licenses were discovered at the home of the Lebanese suspect in Casablanca Wednesday [GettyImages]

Moroccan authorities said late Thursday they arrested a Lebanese national affiliated with the Hezbollah party over charges of committing fraud and identity theft.

They said the 57-year-old man features on the Interpol list of wanted criminals.

The National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ), upon intelligence provided by the National Security Directorate, (DGST), arrested the Hezbollah member last Wednesday in Casablanca over charges of fraud, identity theft, and possession of identity documents and passports reported stolen.

The suspect is accused of defrauding money from several victims in Morocco. He also used stolen French and Portuguese passports, fooled his victims claiming he is a manager of foreign companies.

At his residence, the security forces found two stolen French and Portuguese passports, registered as stolen in the database of Interpol, several identity documents, French driving licenses with Portuguese, French, and Italian names as well as an unspecified amount of money in foreign currency and local Dirham.

The investigations are conducted in coordinating with Interpol as well as with the countries concerned to determine the circumstances of the declaration of the theft of the seized passports.

Morocco accuses Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally, Hezbollah, of training and arming fighters of the Polisario Front, a Western Sahara independence movement.

US officials have long been concerned that central and west African countries could become safe havens for financiers of Hezbollah looking to take advantage of weak financial regulation.



French-Algerian Novelist Sansal Appeals Detention Decision

Renowned French Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal (AFP)
Renowned French Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal (AFP)
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French-Algerian Novelist Sansal Appeals Detention Decision

Renowned French Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal (AFP)
Renowned French Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal (AFP)

Renowned French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal has been placed in detention at a hospital unit in Algeria’s capital, as his defense team appealed the decision to detain him.

Sansal’s lawyers in Algeria on Wednesday met with their client in the prison unit of Mustapha Hospital in Algiers, his lawyer in France François Zimeray said. The writer appeared to be worried but otherwise in good spirits, and did not complain of mistreatment, he said. His lawyers plan to seek his release on bail.

Sansal, 75, who obtained French citizenship earlier this year, was arrested this month at Algiers airport upon returning from France.

The writer was indicted Tuesday under Algeria’s Article 87 bis on charges of “undermining the integrity of the national territory,” the lawyer added.
On Friday, Algeria’s state news agency APS finally acknowledged his arrest without clarifying the circumstances.
Sansal has repeatedly criticized Algerian officials.

His arrest comes as relations between France and Algeria face newfound strains. France in July backed Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara, angering Algeria.