Thursday June 26, 2025
Garowe (HOL) — Families of six Moroccan men sentenced to death in Somalia are pleading with the government in Rabat to urgently repatriate their sons, more than a year after a Puntland military court ordered their execution and deportation for alleged ties to the Islamic State group.
The men were convicted by a military tribunal in Bosaso on March 2, 2024, for allegedly being members of ISIS. The court sentenced them to death by firing squad and instructed authorities to deport them within 18 months. However, the detainees remain in prison in Garowe, with no timeline for their release or repatriation.
On May 19, their families submitted a formal complaint to Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urging immediate intervention and describing the continued detention as a violation of legal due process. They say their sons were recruited with promises of legitimate employment but were deceived and later accused of terrorism.
The appeal follows mixed judicial signals from Puntland. On May 14 this year, the same military court announced it had released six foreign ISIS defectors—Ethiopian and Moroccan nationals who surrendered to Puntland security forces—and handed them to the regional Justice Ministry for repatriation. Court officials did not clarify whether any of the freed Moroccans were among those sentenced to death two months earlier, leaving the fate of the condemned men uncertain.
In an audio message to Morocco’s Al-Oumk newspaper, one of the detainees claimed they were framed upon arriving in Somalia. He said they had no affiliation with any armed group and had been misled by those who facilitated their travel.
“Our sons came here for work,” a family member said in the complaint. “Instead, they were wrongfully imprisoned and sentenced to death without a fair trial.”
The case has sparked criticism from human rights advocates, who question the transparency of the proceedings and the extended detention despite a deportation order. The men’s continued incarceration has raised concerns over Somalia’s handling of terrorism-related cases involving foreign nationals.
Somalia’s Puntland region has intensified efforts in recent years to combat ISIS-linked factions operating in the Bari mountains and surrounding areas. While courts have prosecuted dozens of suspected militants, international observers have expressed concern about the use of military tribunals and limited access to legal representation.
The families continue to appeal to Moroccan authorities and the wider public, warning that without immediate action, their sons remain at risk of execution in a foreign prison.