‘What is happening in Syria is not jihad’
By Imrane Binoual in Martil for Magharebia
Moroccan police continue to find and dismantle cells that recruit jihadist fighters for the Islamic State. But for each new extremist group taken down in F’nideq, Martil, and Tetouan, another question arises.
Why are young people in northern Morocco willing to leave home for battlefields in Iraq and Syria? And is there a common socio-economic factor at play in their decision?
The Northern Observatory for Human Rights (ONERDH), a non-governmental organisation based in the north of Morocco, recently investigated whether local recruits were motivated by religion or more mundane factors.
Magharebia met with Mohamed Benaissa, the ONERDH director in Martil, to learn the results of the inquiry and seek answers to the most troubling question of all: why is Morocco so appealing to Daesh?
Magharebia: Your organisation conducted a study on these home-grown jihadists. What did you find?
Mohamed Benaissa: The study by the Northern Observatory for Human Rights, considered the first of its kind here, focused on a sample of young fighters from northern Morocco…Most are between 15 and 30 years of age.
The second fact, based on the research we conducted, is that their social class is low. They are employed in marginal occupations such as plasterers, builders or similar activities. Their parents have a level of education that does not exceed the preparatory level, with rare cases of secondary education or university…
Of the sample – which included 28 males and two females – we found that they never had any political or associative involvement, except for some of them in the February 20 Movement or the National Committee for the Defence of Political Prisoners, which is heavily active in Tetouan and Tangier.
Magharebia: If it’s not always religion, then what leads these local youths to join Daesh?
Benaissa: Mundane factors… the search for leadership and adventure.
Magharebia: How many are we talking about?
Benaissa: The northern region constitutes a major proportion of Moroccan fighters present in extremist groups in Syria and Iraq. Security authorities estimate them to number around 1,500 people…
Many sons of F’nideq, Tetouan, Martil or others were recruited and sent at their own expense to Syria.
Magharebia: Why are youths from northern Morocco specifically targeted for recruitment by extremist groups? Is it just their location?
Benaissa: There are also historical factors…The northern region has known a developmental and economic boom since King Mohammed VI acceded to the throne but its children have not benefited from this development…That is why we still hear of demonstrations by its youth asking to be included in the use of the resources of the region…
Economic factors count too.
Most of the region is known for two specific activities. The first is smuggling and the second is the drug trade. Hence the region has specific peculiarities in Morocco…
There are other factors…the low standard of living… the low educational level. All of these compound and complex factors push young people to fill their loss with whatever extremist groups offer them….
Magharebia: What do you say to young people who cite religion as the motivation behind their desire to join ISIS?
Benaissa: Everyone knows that what is happening in Iraq and Syria is not a jihad, as long as there is fighting between Muslims. So even the attempt of packaging the conflict in a religious cover is unfounded…
Trying to wrap it with an ideological religious cover, in relation to jihad and the establishment of the caliphate, is just an attempt to disguise it.
Our message to these young people is that their future is inevitably in their own country, to get hold of their rights from the state to which they belong, be they Moroccans, Tunisians or others.
Magharebia: What should the state do to stop this haemorrhage?
Benaissa: The first recommendation we came out with is the need for a national strategy…to reduce the recruitment of young people to go to Syria and Iraq.
There should be involvement by civil society organisations, the press, scholarly councils, and religious institutions in this strategy.
There is another important recommendation: the positive neutrality of the state concerning conflicts witnessed by the world. This constitutes a safety valve for young people, and a way not to repeat the experiences of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and others.
Magharebia: Has Morocco’s policy changed at all regarding the issue of young people fighting abroad?
Benaissa: There was, at the beginning, flexibility in dealing with young fighters migrating to areas of conflict. This has changed – post-2013 – to strictness and a tightened security grip, in addition to the dismantling of terrorist cells and cutting off their funding.
The strategy of extreme parties and groups in Syria and Iraq has changed too, in order to attract these young people.
So long as the conflict in Syria and Iraq continues… the migration of a group of young people to conflict zones will continue… until the state adopts a clear national strategy to reduce this phenomenon.
Magharebia: Tell us what you are working on now.
Benaissa: The last case dates from 20 days ago and concerns a young man from the city of Tetouan. He is 25-years-old, high school level. He owned a shop selling snacks. He is married and the father of a girl.
And he travelled to Syria.
So for us, the cases are ongoing, although they have diminished in recent months, due to the heightened security policy followed by the Moroccan state.