RIGHTS-MOROCCO: They Can Still Hear Those Bombs

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Abderrahim El Ouali

CASABLANCA, Morocco, Jan 12 2006 (IPS) - It has been more than two years, but for Mohamed Mahboub who was then head waiter at the Casa de Espana Club in Casablanca, that day will never end.

It has been more than two years, but for Mohamed Mahboub who was then head waiter at the Casa de Espana Club in Casablanca, that day will never end.

It was May 16, 2003, and Mahboub was supervising waiters at the committee table for members planning their weekly Bingo lottery.

“Suddenly I saw two men running towards me with rucksacks on their backs,” Mahboub told IPS. “I thought they were thieves headed for the till. I tried to stop one of them. I looked into his face, his eyes were strangely red; he was clearly drugged. He pushed me aside and shouted ‘Allah o Akbar’ (Allah is great).”

Those were the last words that the man spoke, and that many heard. The explosives the two men set off left 24 dead in that restaurant, and many more severely wounded.

“When I came out of coma I saw people coming to look at me, and running away terrified. I thought my face was completely mutilated. I saw decapitated bodies around me, arms, legs, heads. The police were there. After some time I heard a third explosion.”

He has much to do, with the debris of that day all around him. The families of those who died were given some compensation, but there was nothing for the injured, many of who live now with permanent disabilities.

The injured employees tried to secure compensation from their insurance company. “But the company argued that the insurance contract does not cover terrorism. They said security of the citizens is the responsibility of the state.”

Mahboub knows what he lives with, even if others do not care. “I still have hypersensitivity to noise. If someone shuts a door or window violently next to me, I think it’s a suicide bombing.”

Some days back, he said, he was at some café when he saw lightning, and heard thunder. “Without knowing what I’m doing, I went and hid under a table.”

There was never any psychiatric support for the survivors, he said. They were given some drugs, but those had heavy side-effects.

The survivors found next that they had lost their jobs. The restaurant had closed down, and there was no compensation or payout for that either.

“Twice we held protests outside the restaurant, but in vain,” he said. “We wanted to re-open Casa de Espana to show the terrorists that they cannot triumph over us. But no one was interested in sending that message.”

They turned to look for other jobs, but the visibly injured could not find any. Mahboub pointed to a deep scar on his face. “They tell me that in this business I need a good appearance.” And he could not look elsewhere because he had always worked in hotels and catering.

After losing so much, Mahboub has still not lost hope. He has brought together some of the injured survivors and other friends to form a group to “promote the culture of peace, tolerance and co-existence between religions and different human communities.”

The one thing the bombs did not destroy was his belief in humanity.