In Spain, the trial of a suspected terrorist cell began last week. Among the accused is Moroccan national Noureddine Chikar, a businessman with a project to import, transform and export raw textile materials, based in Nador, and financed by the council of the Oriental region. The Moroccan is being prosecuted for «illegal possession of weapons, money laundering and embezzlement, falsification of commercial documents and crimes against cultural property». Noureddine Chikar's appearance in court is scheduled for March 18. Before him, Ammar Termanini, a Syrian who also has Dutch nationality, appeared on March 3. He denied all the accusations against him, claiming that he was sending humanitarian aid to the Syrian people through his company. On Wednesday, a Jordanian national will have to answer questions from the judges of the National Hearing in Madrid. The ruling will be pronounced at the end of April. The Spanish police refer to Noureddine Chikar as «the tailor of ISIS», since they allege he used to use textile factories to manufacture combat clothing for the jihadists engaged in Syria. In this case dating back to 2016, the Moroccan remained free following the payment of a deposit of 60,000 euros. In December 2019, he was arrested by Spanish police on the same charges but without being imprisoned. The Attorney General has reuested sentences of between 13 and 28 years in prison for the defendants.
