A Moroccan court has handed prison sentences of up to 12 years to 29 individuals, including prominent politicians and sports figures, concluding a major international drug trafficking and corruption trial.

The verdicts, delivered late Thursday in Casablanca after a two-year trial, mark one of the largest anti-corruption operations in Morocco's history.

Among those convicted were construction tycoon and former regional council president Abdennebi Bioui (12 years), former Wydad AC football club president Said Naciri (10 years), and former MP Belkacem Mir (10 years) — all senior members of the ruling PAM party.

The remaining 26 defendants received sentences ranging from two to nine years. The case was triggered by testimony from Malian drug trafficker El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim, nicknamed the "Pablo Escobar of the Sahara."

The trial involved over 20 defendants, 18 witnesses, and two civil parties, centered on a sophisticated network that transported tonnes of Moroccan cannabis resin across North Africa to Europe, alongside Latin American cocaine shipments.

Defendants were convicted on charges including drug and gold trafficking, corruption, forgery, and money laundering. The court ordered asset seizures and levied hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.

Moroccan media reported that families of the convicted, present without legal representation due to a lawyers' strike, were left in shock, with some collapsing in the courthouse. The scandal prompted King Mohammed VI to demand a legally binding code of ethics to "moralize" parliamentary life.

Source: www.aljazeera.com