Marrakesh bomber sentenced to death

AFP - A Moroccan court on Friday sentenced to death the man convicted of orchestrating an April attack at a Marrakesh cafe that killed 17, and sentenced one of his accomplices to life in prison.

The anti-terrorism court in Sale, near the capital Rabat, delivered the death penalty verdict against Adil Al-Atmani and gave the life sentence to Hakim Dah, an AFP journalist reported.

When the verdict was announced, Atmani's sister started shouting in the courtroom and prevented the judge from reading the verdicts of the eight other defendants. She then fainted.

Four of the defendants were sentenced to four years in prison, while the remaining three were given three years.

Morocco still has a death penalty provision in its criminal code, but has not carried out an execution since 1992.

The country's new constitution, massively backed in a July referendum, invokes the "right to life" for all Moroccans.

Eight French nationals, three Swiss citizens and three Moroccans were among those killed in the April 28 blasts at a cafe packed with tourists.