Abdelkader Belliraj was convicted of being the mastermind behind a network of 35 people dismantled by Moroccan authorities in 2008[ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP via Getty Images]
A Belgian-Moroccan sentenced in 2009 to life in prison after being accused of leading an extremist network has been pardoned by King Mohammed VI, his family told AFP on Monday.
Abdelkader Belliraj was convicted of being the mastermind behind a network of 35 people dismantled by Moroccan authorities in 2008, and was also accused of committing six murders in Belgium in the 1980s and 1990s, which he denied.
He was found guilty in a trial criticised for rights violations.
“My husband received a royal pardon and left prison last night,” said his wife Rachida Hatti.
He was among 31 prisoners convicted of “extremism and terrorism” charges who were pardoned on Monday by the Moroccan monarch for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, according to a statement from the justice ministry.
It did not disclose the names of those pardoned.
They were pardoned after “reviewing their ideological orientations and rejecting extremism and terrorism”, according to the statement.
A total of 1,533 convicts, both imprisoned and free, received royal pardons for Eid al-Fitr this year.
