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MOROCCO
Firing squad executes
11 air force men
RABAT, Sunday
(AAP-Reuter). — Eleven
Moroccan Air Force
men were executed by
firing squad yesterday
for their part in the mid
air assassination attempt
on King Hassan last
August, an official
source said.
They died in the prison at
Kenitra, 25 miles north of
Rabat, near the air force base
used by jet fighter pilots who
tried to shoot down a Boeing
727 airliner carrying the king
from France to Rabat.
An appeal lodged by the
:onvicted men was rejected by
the Supreme Court in Rabat on
December 26, and applications
for a Royal pardon presented to
the king by defence lawyers
went unanswered.
At the trial 200 air force men
were acquitted and 32 others
were given prison terms ranging
from three to 20 years.
Those executed included Lie
tenant - Colonel Mohammed
Amokrane, former Deputy
Chief of the Air Force, and
Major Kouera El Wafi, com
mander of the Kenitra Air Base
used by the attacking F5 jet
fighters.
King Hassan escaped the at
tacks unhurt but 40 people
were killed when the fighters
strafed Rabat airport and the
Royal Palace.
Acquitted
At the trial, Colonel Amok
rane and Major El Wafi admit
ted having tried to assassinate
the king with a view to setting
up a republic led by the armed
forces. They said they had been
outraged by corruption and
immorality in the regime.
Both said they had taken or
ders from General Mohamed
Oufxir, the Defence Minister
and Army Chief of Staff at the
time, who is said to have
masterminded the plot. He was
found shot dead eight hours
after it failed. Officials say his
death was suicide.
Three of the officers who
died yesterday morning leave
widows of foreign nationality,
notably Colonel Amokrane,
whose wife is a West German.
Her husband sent her home the
day of the coup and when it
failed he himself fled the coun
try to take refuge in Gibraltar,
where the British authorities
refused him asylum. He was
sent back to Morocco.
Lieutenant Abdel Kader Ziad
and Second Lieutenant Yazid
Midaoui, both jet fighter pilots,
were married to US citizens.
Like many Moroccan Air
Force pilots they did their flight
training in the US.
$