Politics
21:48, 22-Jul-2017
7 teenage girls jailed for pledging allegiance to ISIL in Morocco
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Morocco has jailed seven teenage girls for terror crimes. Authorities claim they had pledged allegiance to ISIL -- and plotted suicide bomb attacks, CGTN's Celestine Karoney reports from the capital Rabat.
The teenagers were caught in the capital nine months ago. They were thought to have been planning suicide bombings during Parliamentary elections and some were suspected of marrying ISIL fighters in Syria. Two of the girls are just 15, the others are 16 and 17.
The principal defendant was given five years in prison, while the others were handed two- to four-year sentences. Morocco's economy depends on tourism, and ISIL links are a big worry.
Authorities say around 1500 Moroccans are among the jihadists in Syria and Iraq. Security forces claim they have discovered more than 40 terrorism cells in the country since 2015 and arrested 800 people.