Taroudante - Moroccan Salafists have reportedly been organized in a political group called “Salafi Movement for Political Reform,” with the aim to guide Salafists and combat terrorism, according to Telquel.
Former Salafi prisoners arrested in the wake of the attacks of May 16, 2003 created their own political movement, making the first step towards “a positive integration into the political scene,” and participate in the “country’s political reform.”
Several Salafists – who after their release renounced violence and recognized the legitimacy of the State and its institutions – joined political parties, showing a tendency to “combat terrorism” and participate in the ongoing political reform.
According to Abdelkrim Chadli, leader of the “Salafi Movement for Political Reform,” his group will be the advocacy arm of the “Democratic and Social Movement”, a Moroccan center-right political party created by former Police Commissioner Mahmoud Arshan.
Chadli said the Salafist Movement aims to "convince all Salafists who do not wish to join political parties, that it is possible to do politics within the state’s institutions and stop the radicalization of young people."
"The reform cannot be achieved right now, only through working side by side with the institutions," he added.
For Chadli, the creation of this movement is "a message addressed to the State to inform them that the Salafis are ready for reconciliation and political work."
In 2013, a large number of Salafists joined the Moroccan political arena by signing up with the Party of Renaissance and Virtue (PRV).
During the country’s recent regional and municipal elections, some well-known Salafists including Mohammed Fizazi, a reformed Salafi-jihadist sheikh, and Mohamed Abdelouahab Rafiki, known as Abou Hafs – both jailed over the 2003 Casablanca bombings – called on Moroccans to vote.
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