08 April 2021 :

The Tangier Court of Appeal upheld on 7 April 2021 the death penalty sentence against a 24-year-old man, who kidnapped, raped, and killed Adnane Bouchouf, an 11-year-old boy in September 2020.
The court also upheld sentences against three other suspects, the flatmates of the main perpetrator. The three individuals received four months in prison each for not reporting the crime.
The perpetrator appealed the sentence despite the evidence, showing him involved in the killing and raping of the 11-year-old boy.
The case dates back to September 2020, when the perpetrator kidnapped Adnane Bouchouf and forced him to enter his house, where he raped him.
Adnane Bouchouf disappeared on 7 September. His family, neighbors, and security services were attempting to find him by dispatching flyers and sharing his photos online.
Moroccan citizens reacted strongly to his disappearance and shared his photos all over social networks in vain.
The defendant noticed the alert and rushed to a barber in the neighborhood to change his look.
However, a street camera footage showed a young man talking to Adnane Bouchouf before walking away with him.
The perpetrator denied he raped the little boy and claimed that Adnane fell from the stairs, which led to his death.
The court, however, ruled that the perpetrator raped and killed Adnane Bouchouf.
Security services found his body buried in a garden close to where the victim lived.
The crime caused uproar in Morocco, with NGOs calling for severe punishment for the main suspect.

13 January 2021 :

A Moroccan Court sentenced on 13 January 2021 a 24-year old man to death penalty for kidnapping, raping, and killing Adnane Bouchouf, a 11-year old boy in September last year.
Tangier’s court also sentenced the perpetrator’s flatmates. The three flatmates received four months prison sentences each for failing to report the crime.
Security services found Adnane’s body on 11 September buried in a garden not far from where the family of the victim lived.
The 24-year old defendant kidnapped the boy, raped, and killed him in cold blood on 7 September, the day when Adnane disappeared.
The family’s victim had searched for their boy in vain, disturbing flyers and posting Adnane photos.
Moroccan citizens reacted to the incident quickly, sharing the photos of Adnane all over social networks.
When the defendant noticed people’s alert, he rushed to the barber in an attempt to change his look.
A street camera footage showed a young man talking to Adnane before walking away with him.
Security services were able to identify and find the suspect appearing in the video, after he had already committed the crime.
During his hearings, the perpetrator claimed he did not rape Adnane Bouchouf.
He also claimed that he was not planning to kill him and said he only kidnapped him to ask for a ransom since he was in need of money.
The news about the death of Adnane shocked Moroccans across the country and abroad. 
Many asked for the maximum sentence against the suspect, signing a petition on Facebook urging for execution or death sentence.
The imam at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, sheikh Omar Al Kazabr, defended Moroccans advocating for the death penalty as punishment for the kidnapping, rape, and murder.
A number of activists adopted a firm position against death penalty, however. They argued that every living person has the right to live, regardless of their crime.
The North African country had 74 prisoners on death row at the end of 2020 but has not carried out an execution since 1993.
Over the past two decades, Morocco has moved to reduce the number of prisoners on death row, by commuting their sentences to life imprisonment or fixed jail terms.
A total of 119 prisoners were removed from death row in this way between 2000 and 2019.