Mozambican court jails 37 members of radical Islamist insurgency

A Mozambican court has sentenced 37 people in prison for their involvement in deadly radical Islamist attacks that have killed about 200 people over the past 18 months, a court official said Thursday. The accused have been jailed for between 12 and 40 years for taking part in attacks in the volatile northern Cabo Delgado province, a gas-rich region near the Tanzania border.

Of the 37 convicted, ten were sentenced to a cumulative count of 40 years in prison for crimes including voluntary homicide and possession of prohibited weapons, Judge Geraldo Patricio said during his ruling on Wednesday. Another 24 defendants were jailed for 16 years for crimes against the state and association to commit a crime.

Three others, aged under 21, received 12-year sentences. The trial was the first of five criminal proceedings relating to the attacks, involving some 200 defendants.

Out of those, the courts have acquitted 143 people and about 20 suspects fled before facing trial. "It was a very complex process, consisting of more than two thousand pages," Zacarias Nhapatima, a court spokesman, told AFP. "The judge of the case has been able to thoroughly study case by case, to the point of giving a solution," he said.

Radical Islamist fighters -- reportedly seeking to impose Sharia law in the Muslim-majority province -- have terrorised remote communities, killing some 200 people since October 2017.

The extremists belong to a group originally known as Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama -- Arabic for "followers of the prophet" -- but commonly referred to by locals and officials as "Al-Shabaab". It has no known link to the notorious Somali group.

(With inputs from agencies.)