Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

MOROCCO

Missing victim stalls Spanish paedophile trial

A Spanish court on Wednesday postponed a hearing of a paedophile who was controversially pardoned by the King of Morocco, after the suspect's accuser disappeared, an official said.

Published: 28 August 2013 16:30 CEST
Missing victim stalls Spanish paedophile trial
Hudreds of protesters gathered in the Moroccan city of Kenitra against the pardon by King Mohamed VI of Morocco of a Spanish paedophile Daniel Galván. Photo: Fadel Senna/AFP

Daniel Galvan, 63, was due to go before a judge in Torrevieja, eastern Spain, on Thursday charged with sexually abusing a girl in Spain in 2004 when she was about seven years old.

The court postponed the hearing indefinitely because the girl, who was required to attend the hearing, had run away from the juvenile centre where she was being looked after, a judicial source told AFP.

The girl’s parents brought charges after recognising Galvan when he appeared on television after a scandal erupted this month in Morocco over his case.

King Mohamed VI pardoned him of the rape of 11 children, for which he was serving 30 years in prison in Morocco after being convicted. The king later revoked his pardon.

Galvan, who is originally from Iraq, was later re-arrested in Spain and was remanded in custody on August 7th.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TRIAL

Morocco death penalties confirmed for killers of Scandinavian hikers

A Moroccan anti-terrorist court on Wednesday confirmed death sentences handed down against three men convicted of beheading two Scandinavian tourists last December, and sentenced a fourth man to be executed.

Published: 31 October 2019 10:27 CET
Morocco death penalties confirmed for killers of Scandinavian hikers
Moroccan police stand guard during the trial in Sale earlier this year. Photo: AFP

All four defendants had been convicted at a trial in July, but the fourth defendant was originally sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the two women, killed while hiking in the High Atlas mountains.

Those sentenced to death included ringleader Abdessamad Ejjoud, a street vendor and underground imam, who had confessed to orchestrating the attack with two other radicalised Moroccans.

They had admitted killing 24-year-old Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland in murders that shocked the North African country.

Although the death penalty remains legal in Morocco, there have been no executions there since 1993 because of a moratorium, and the issue of capital punishment is a matter of political debate.

The court in Sale, near Rabat, confirmed jail sentences of between five and 30 years against 19 other men, but increased the jail sentence of another man from 15 to 20 years.

The court also confirmed an order for the three men who carried out the killings and their accomplices to pay two million dirhams (190,000 euros) in compensation to Ueland's family.

But it refused a request from the Jespersen family for 10 million dirhams in compensation from the Moroccan state for its “moral responsibility”.

READ ALSO: Convicts appeal in Morocco case of murdered Danish, Norwegian hikers