CASABLANCA: A Moroccan court on Tuesday sentenced a man to five years in prison and $107,300 in fines for human trafficking, in the country’s first ruling against someone accused of luring people to work in a scam compound in Asia.
The case involved several young Moroccans who said they were attracted by an online job offer promising good pay in Thailand. Instead, they found themselves trafficked to Myanmar and forced to work more than 9,300 miles (14,966 kilometers) from home, facilitating online fraud and scams.
The defendant, Nabil Moafik, denied the charges and called human trafficking a “crime against humanity” he would never commit.
The United Nations says some 120,000 people are trapped in so-called scam centers, and prosecutions have been launched around the world to combat trafficking. Several are making their way through Moroccan courts.
In Casablanca, victims present in court told The Associated Press they witnessed torture and other degrading treatment in the Myanmar centers. Some said they secured their release after paying ransoms in cryptocurrency, according to court documents provided by attorneys.
Prosecutors said Moafik ran a Facebook group helping Moroccan immigrants navigate life in Turkiye. There, he posted an ad for call-center work in Thailand. One person, Youssef Amzouz, responded. He was put in touch with another Moroccan who handled recruitment, interviewed and sent money to purchase a plane ticket to Malaysia.
A police report read out in court said Moafik introduced Amzouz to another Moroccan who later demanded that he either pay a ransom or recruit 100 others to secure his freedom.
Moafik told the judge that Amzouz called him after leaving the scam compound, saying he was receiving treatment in a hospital for injuries sustained from torture.
“I was just a job mediator. I was getting between $21 to $107 for each person I recruited,” Moafik said. “I did not know that all of this would happen.”
The International Organization for Migration, a UN body, has said middlemen can be unaware they’re participating in trafficking, making prosecuting such cross-border crimes difficult.
The state prosecutor argued that Moafik’s aim was to profit from trading in goods, calling him “an essential element in the crime of human trafficking.”
Local news outlet Hespress reported earlier this year that Morocco’s Foreign Ministry secured the release of 34 citizens trafficked to online scam centers in Myanmar. The ministry did not respond to AP’s emailed questions about the total number of Moroccans affected.
Moroccan court sentences man accused of trafficking people to scam compound in Asia
https://arab.news/gy46p
Moroccan court sentences man accused of trafficking people to scam compound in Asia
- The case involved several young Moroccans who said they were attracted by an online job offer promising good pay in Thailand
- The defendant, Nabil Moafik, denied the charges and called human trafficking a “crime against humanity” he would never commit
Sudan paramilitary advances near Ethiopia border
- Sudan’s Kordofan region, where the SPLM-N has its other foothold in the Nuba Mountains, is currently the war’s fiercest battleground
KHARTOUM: Sudanese paramilitary forces have advanced on army positions near the southeastern border with Ethiopia, according to the group and an eyewitness who spoke to AFP Wednesday.
Control over Sudan’s southeastern Blue Nile State, bordering both Ethiopia and South Sudan, is split between the army and a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, allies of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
In a statement released Tuesday, the SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, said they had “liberated the strategic city of Deim Mansour and areas of Bashir Nuqu and Khor Al-Budi.”
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the RSF. In February of last year, the RSF announced a surprise alliance with the SPLM-N, securing experienced fighters, land and border access.
Deim Mansour lies between the SPLM-N stronghold Yabus, birthplace of their deputy commander Joseph Tuka, and the army-held town of Kurmuk, which hosts a large army contingent.
Babiker Khaled, who fled to Kurmuk, told AFP that SPLM-N fighters began amassing in the forests around Deim Mansour on Sunday.
“The shelling began on Monday, they entered the city on Tuesday,” he said, adding that “some people fled into Ethiopia, others arrived in Kurmuk.”
From its foothold in the southern Blue Nile, a thin strip of land jutting south between Ethiopia and South Sudan, the SPLM-N maintains reported supply lines from both countries, building on decades-old links.
Close to three years of war in Sudan have left tens of thousands dead and around 11 million displaced, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
It has also torn the country apart, with the army holding the center, north and east of Sudan while the RSF and its allies dominate the west and parts of the south.
Sudan’s Kordofan region, where the SPLM-N has its other foothold in the Nuba Mountains, is currently the war’s fiercest battleground.
On Tuesday, the army broke a paramilitary siege on South Kordofan state capital Kadugli, days after breaking another on the nearby city of Dilling.
