Morocco Authorizes Exceptional Flights to Help Repatriate Nationals Stranded Abroad

Moroccans preparing to return back home after they were stranded abroad (MAP)
Moroccans preparing to return back home after they were stranded abroad (MAP)
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Morocco Authorizes Exceptional Flights to Help Repatriate Nationals Stranded Abroad

Moroccans preparing to return back home after they were stranded abroad (MAP)
Moroccans preparing to return back home after they were stranded abroad (MAP)

The Moroccan government announced exceptional passenger flights to allow Moroccans stranded abroad to return to Morocco despite the ongoing suspension of flights to and from the country.

The Inter-Ministerial Monitoring Committee said in a statement that Morocco will authorize passenger flights to its territory from Portugal, Turkey, and the UAE.

The operation, which concerns Moroccans exclusively, will begin on December 15, noting that passengers will be paying for their tickets.

The Moroccan government also announced a health protocol to be applied during those fights, including presenting a negative PCR test taken less than 48 hours before boarding the flight.

Passengers will also be subject to seven-day confinement in hotels. The period will be covered by the government.

The passengers will also undergo PCR tests every 48 hours during their confinement period.

Anyone who tests positive at the airport or hotel will be taken care of by the relevant health authorities.



US Charges Iran Guards Captain in 2022 Killing of American in Iraq

Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
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US Charges Iran Guards Captain in 2022 Killing of American in Iraq

Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)

The US Justice Department said on Friday it had charged a captain in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards with murder and terrorism offenses in the 2022 death of American Stephen Troell in Iraq.

Mohammad Reza Nouri, 36, helped plan an attack on Troell, 45, who was working at an English language institute in central Baghdad, according to a complaint unsealed in US Federal Court in Manhattan.

The attack was carried out in retaliation for the US killing of the Revolutionary Guards' top commander Qassem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike, according to the complaint.

"The Department of Justice will not tolerate terrorists and authoritarian regimes targeting and murdering Americans anywhere in the world," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Nouri is already in custody in Iraq after being convicted, along with four Iraqis, in that country for Troell's murder. All five were sentenced to life in prison in Iraq last year.

Nouri is facing eight charges in US court, including murder of a US national and providing material support to terrorism resulting in death. The United States considers the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.

It was not yet clear if Nouri had an attorney. Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint accuses Nouri of collecting personal information on Troell, whom he appears to have believed was an American or Israeli intelligence officer, and recruiting operatives to target him.

Troell was shot and killed on Nov. 7, 2022, after a heavily armed gunman forced him to stop while he was driving home with his wife, according to US authorities.