Morocco convicts 29 in Sahara Escobar drug trial: former football chief and ex-officials jailed

The verdicts

On Thursday, June 25, the Casablanca Court of Appeal sentenced 29 defendants in the so-called Sahara Escobar case. Said Naciri, former president of Wydad Casablanca and an ex-MP, received 10 years in prison. Abdenbi Bioui, a former regional president and construction magnate, was given 12 years. Former MP Belkacem Mir, once mayor of Sidi Allal el Bahroui, was also handed a 10-year term. The remaining convicted individuals got sentences ranging from 2 to 9 years. One defendant was acquitted, with his lawyer telling reporters afterward:

“I was convinced of his innocence and thank God, he got it. He is in shock because he attended the trial every week for more than two years in painful conditions.”

The network

The case emerged from testimony by Malian drug lord Ahmed Ben Brahim, known as the "Pablo Escobar of the Sahara". Currently serving a 10-year sentence in a Casablanca prison after his 2019 arrest, Ben Brahim accused more than 20 ex-MPs, security force members and civil servants of helping him move tonnes of Moroccan cannabis resin across North Africa to Europe, alongside Latin American cocaine shipments. He said his former Moroccan political and business associates had seized his luxury properties and vehicles while he was in jail.

The trial

The two-year trial involved over 80 sessions, more than 20 defendants, 18 witnesses and two civil parties. Naciri and Bioui, both senior figures in the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) – a member of the governing coalition – were detained in late 2023. During hearings, Bioui denied any link to drug trafficking and accused Ben Brahim of lying. The court, however, found the evidence sufficient. For the first time in Morocco, a drug trafficking trial had ensnared top-tier political figures.

Financial penalties

The court ordered asset seizures from the main ringleaders and imposed heavy fines. According to EL PAÍS, the three principal defendants must pay tens of millions of euros in fines and a 400 million euro compensation sum to the Moroccan customs administration. Lawyers for the defence argued that the case relied solely on a convicted narco's police statement and lacked solid evidence. The verdict can be appealed.

Political fallout

The scandal reached the highest levels of state, with King Mohammed VI calling for a legally binding code of ethics aimed at "moralising" parliamentary life. Moroccan media reported that the families of the convicted, present without legal representation due to a lawyers' strike, wept and screamed in the courtroom, making the reading of sentences partially inaudible. The verdict comes as PAM, a centre-right party, prepares for legislative elections in three months.