The Rabat Appeals Court closes the “Final Kan” riot case by upholding the initial rulings

The Rabat Court of Appeal ruled, late Monday-Tuesday night, to uphold the preliminary rulings issued against the fans arrested in connection with the riots that accompanied the final match of the African Cup of Nations “Morocco 2025” between the Moroccan and Senegalese national teams.

This came after a marathon session that began at two o'clock in the afternoon yesterday, Monday, and witnessed a number of interruptions, especially after a health problem suffered by one of the Senegalese fans, which required his transfer to the court clinic, before his condition improved and he returned to the hearing room.

The third session of the appeal phase witnessed lengthy arguments, presented by the defense of the Senegalese detainees, and the defense of the French young man, “E.M.”, of Algerian origin, in addition to the defense of those claiming civil rights, in parallel with the interventions of the representative of the Public Prosecution regarding petitions presented to the court.

Perhaps the most prominent feature of this session was the petitions submitted by the defense of the 18 Senegalese fans, including summoning the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), as the body supervising the organization of the “CAN” Championship, as well as allowing the showing of the videotape approved by the judicial police.

The representative of the Public Prosecution asked the court to reject these petitions, claiming that the matter was related to “crimes that occurred inside the stadium and were witnessed by everyone,” and that “moving in this direction will not bring anything new to the case and will be of no use.”

Based on what was ruled by the Court of Appeal in the capital, Rabat, three Senegalese fans, along with a French fan, are expected to complete their three-month prison sentence, by April 18, while 15 other fans will continue to serve the remainder of their prison sentence.

It should be noted that the Rabat Court of First Instance, last February, convicted four fans of three months in prison and a fine of up to 1,200 dirhams, and convicted six others of six months in prison and a fine of 2,000 dirhams, while convicting the rest of the defendants of imprisonment for a full year and a fine of 5,000 dirhams.

The charges against the observers in this file include “entering the field during a sports match, contributing to the commission of acts of violence, beating, wounding, violence and abuse against members of the public force, in addition to throwing objects consisting of chairs and pieces of iron, as well as damaging sports equipment (...), at a time when the judiciary was convinced during the primary stage to grant 15 of them the mitigating conditions.