Moroccan King Pardons 17 Al Hoceima Detainees

The Moroccan monarch while performing the Eid al-Fitr prayer yesterday (MAP)
The Moroccan monarch while performing the Eid al-Fitr prayer yesterday (MAP)
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Moroccan King Pardons 17 Al Hoceima Detainees

The Moroccan monarch while performing the Eid al-Fitr prayer yesterday (MAP)
The Moroccan monarch while performing the Eid al-Fitr prayer yesterday (MAP)

Moroccan King Mohammed VI has granted Eid Al-Fitr royal pardon to 810 detainees, including prisoners of 17 Al Hoceima movement, the Ministry of Justice revealed on Wednesday.

Among the released are 12 prisoners who were arrested over extremism and terrorism charges.

Security services arrested 17 persons during their participation in protests in the Al Hoceima province over economic and social issues between 2016 and 2017.

However, Morocco’s Ministry of Justice said that the royal pardon took into account “family and human circumstances.”

Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper learned that Nasser Zefzafi (the leader of the protest movement) and Nabil Ahmajik were excluded from the pardon.

A number of local media reported that some of those pardoned had earlier received sentences up to 20 years in prison.

Up to 28 detainees had also received pardon for the remainder of their prison sentences, while around 576 detainees will have their prison sentences reduced.



Israel Says it Killed Hamas Commander in Lebanon

A damaged apartment which was hit earlier by an apparent Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A damaged apartment which was hit earlier by an apparent Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
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Israel Says it Killed Hamas Commander in Lebanon

A damaged apartment which was hit earlier by an apparent Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A damaged apartment which was hit earlier by an apparent Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

 

The Israeli military said on Friday it had killed Hassan Farhat, a commander of Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the Sidon region of southern Lebanon. 

The state-run National News Agency said three people were killed in the attack. "A hostile drone raided a residential apartment... in Sidon, causing two successive explosions that led to a fire and extensive damage," reported NNA.

Emergency workers rushed to the scene where they recovered "the bodies of three martyrs," the agency said.

According to local media reports, Farhat's two children were also killed in the attack.

It was the first time an airstrike had hit Lebanon’s third largest city since a tenuous ceasefire agreement brought an end to the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in late November.

Israel has continued to carry out regular airstrikes targeting what it has said are facilities and officials of Hezbollah and allied groups since the ceasefire.