1.
SV INT. Judges entering court & sitting
0.22

2.
SV Guards
0.26

3.
SV Lawyers
0.29

4.
GV PAN over accused to lawyer speaking
0.45

5.
CU Judge listening
0.48

6.
SV Judge speaking
0.50

7.
SV PAN over court and accused (2 shots)
1.02

8.
CU Condemned officers (7 shots)
1.20

9.
Travel shot over acquitted
1.30



Initials ESP/0214 ESP/0227



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A military tribunal in Morocco on Tuesday (7 November) imposed death sentences on 11 ringleaders of an attempt to kill King Hassan on August 16th.

The verdicts came at the end of a three week trial of 220 Air Force officers and men accused of complicity in strafing the King's private aircraft as it was bringing his home from a visit to France. Jet fighters from Kenitra base were used in the attack on the royal airliner and on Rabat airport.

The tribunal acquitted 177 of the accused.

Others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to twenty years.

Among those sentenced to death by firing squad were Lt-Colonel Mohamed Amokrane, former Deputy Chief of the Moroccan Air Force and Major Kouera El Wafi, Commander of the Kenitra base. Both pleaded guilty to trying to kill the king.

SYNOPSIS: A military tribunal at Kenitra, Morocco, sits in judgment on two-hundred-and-twenty air force officers and men charged with complicity in the attempt to kill King Hassan last August. The trial had gone on for three weeks.

Jet fighters from the Kenitra Air Base were used in an attack on the King's Boeing 727 airliner as he returned to Rabat from a visit to France. The Royal airliner was riddled with rocket and cannon fire but landed safely at Rabat airport, which was also attacked by the rebels. Eight people were killed and nearly fifty wounded.

The prosecution demanded the death sentence for fourteen of the accused, including the former Deputy Chief of the Air Force, and the commander of Kenitra Base.

In the end, death sentences were passed against eleven ringleaders...some of whom are shown here. They are all expected to appeal and, failing that, to ask for a Royal pardon. One-hundred-and-seventy-seven of the accused were acquitted and prison sentences of up to twenty years were passed on the rest.