Morocco Families Rally for Release of Jailed Islamists

Some 200 Moroccans, including dozens of children, protested outside parliament in Rabat on Thursday demanding the release from prison of Islamist relatives they say are innocent.

"Ten years have passed. How many more?" read one of the placards held up by protesters, who waved Islamist flags and chanted "Allahu akbar!" (God is greatest).

A similar protest was held earlier outside the nearby justice ministry.

Morocco has jailed thousands of Islamists on terror charges over the past decade, most famously after 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca in which 33 people were killed.

The authorities frequently announce dismantling jihadist cells with suspected links to al-Qaida.

They say more than 120 have been busted in the past 10 years, including as recently as Friday.

But those attending Thursday's demonstration protested the innocence of their detained relatives, including Ahmed, 12, whose father was jailed for 20 years in 2003.

"I've come here from Tangiers to defend my father. He was arrested simply because he is a good Muslim," the son told Agence France Presse.

Ahmed Bel Baraka, one of the protest organizers, said the authorities used the conflict in Syria as an excuse to unjustly detain Islamists, by claiming they would go and fight there if released, then posing a threat to national security on their return.

But the bearded activist remained hopeful, saying: "It is God who will release our innocent brothers."

One of the placards at the protest read: "You freed the rapist, so free our parents to protect us," referring to a decision by King Mohamed VI three weeks ago to pardon a convicted Spanish pedophile, who was sentenced to 30 years behind bars in 2011.

The decision sparked angry protests across Morocco and was hastily revoked, but it brought the judicial system under fresh scrutiny, amid growing calls for reform.