In the trial of 40-odd Moroccans charged with participation in a series of pogroms in the town of Djeraba last year, which opened in a Casablanca military court yesterday, the prosecution will attempt to investigate the political background of the case, it was understood here today. Thirty-five persons died during the anti-Jewish riots.
Chief of the defendants is Ou Amida, an Arab labor leader accused of having incited the Moroccan mob to kill Jews and loot their property. His lawyers are a Communist known as Bonnet and an anti-Communist and anti-Semite, Jean Charles Le Grand. It is believed that the defense will endeavor to prove that the persecution is attempting to pin responsibility for the affair on trade unionists and nationalists, for political reasons. (After the programs the Communist newspaper L’Hurmanite charged that the Djeraba riots were due to “police provocation,”)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
