A Moroccan Islamist activist has been sentenced to two years in prison for incitement to hatred over social media posts glorifying a stabbing attack in Israel, his lawyer said on Tuesday, according to the AFP news agency.
Redouane El Kastit, a member of the banned but tolerated Al Adl Wal Ihssane movement, was convicted by a Tangier court late Monday, according to his attorney, Mohamed Serroukh.
El Kastit was arrested on February 5 and faced charges of "incitement to hatred," "discrimination," and "insulting a public body" over approximately 15 Facebook posts, Serroukh stated.
Prosecutors said the posts referred to a late-January stabbing of five people in Tel Aviv as the start of a "blessed racist campaign."
El Kastit has denied publishing the posts, his lawyer added. Calling the ruling excessively severe, the lawyer confirmed plans to appeal.
Morocco renewed its official relations with Israel amid a string of normalization deals between Israel and Arab countries, brokered by the Trump administration in late 2020.
Despite the renewal of ties, protests against Israel's war in Gaza have repeatedly drawn thousands of people in Morocco since the conflict began on October 7, 2023.
A protest in December of 2023 saw thousands staging a march in Rabat, demanding an end to Morocco's ties with Israel.
In July of 2024, thousands of Moroccans demonstrated in the northern city of Tangier in support of the Palestinian Arab people and against Morocco's ties with Israel.
Ahead of the first anniversary of the massacre, tens of thousands of Moroccans protested in Rabat in support of Palestinian Arabs and against normalization of ties with Israel.
Demonstrators waved Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags and brandished signs denouncing the kingdom's 2020 normalization with Israel, amid chants of "Resistance does not die" and "The people want an end to normalization".