{"id":66954,"date":"2026-02-20T20:23:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism"},"modified":"2026-02-20T20:46:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:46:04","slug":"moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism","title":{"rendered":"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span>A Moroccan court has handed prison sentences to 18 Senegalese football supporters following violent incidents during the Africa Cup of Nations final earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling, delivered on Thursday, saw the fans sentenced to between three and 12 months behind bars over charges linked to hooliganism and disorderly conduct.<\/p>\n<p>The group had remained in custody since January 18 \u2014 the day Morocco suffered a 1\u20130 defeat to Senegal in the AFCON final on home soil.<\/p>\n<p>According to prosecutors, tensions escalated during the match as some Senegalese supporters allegedly attempted to storm the pitch, while others threw objects onto the playing surface.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution argued that the accused intentionally disrupted the smooth conduct of the game, adding that the disturbances were broadcast live on television.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities also reported significant destruction at the stadium, estimating damages at more than four million Moroccan dirhams, equivalent to about $430,000.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence presented in court included surveillance footage from the stadium and medical reports detailing injuries sustained by security personnel and stadium officials.<\/p>\n<p>However, defence counsel, Naima El Guellaf, challenged the strength of the evidence, insisting that the video recordings did not provide clear and undeniable proof that any of the accused physically assaulted security operatives or caused harm.<\/p>\n<p>The case comes amid disciplinary measures already taken by the Confederation of African Football, which in late January imposed heavy fines on both the Senegalese and Moroccan football federations over breaches of fair play and unsporting conduct during the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>El Guellaf argued that her clients should not face double punishment, maintaining that CAF\u2019s sanctions against the Senegalese federation addressed the issue of fan misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>But representing members of the security forces as the civil party, lawyer Mustapha Simou countered that CAF\u2019s disciplinary action does not override national criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>He told the court that the football body\u2019s sanctions in no way shield the defendants from criminal liability, adding that they instead reinforce the seriousness of the allegations.<\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s decision marks a significant legal outcome stemming from the controversial AFCON final, underscoring authorities\u2019 firm stance against violence and disorder at major sporting events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Lesotho<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. A Moroccan court has handed prison sentences to 18 Senegalese football supporters following violent incidents during the Africa Cup of Nations final earlier this year. The ruling, delivered on Thursday, saw the fans sentenced to between three and 12 months behind bars over charges linked to hooliganism and disorderly conduct. The group [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":66953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-66954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. A Moroccan court has handed pri ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. A Moroccan court has handed pri ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-20T20:23:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-20T20:46:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1105\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-20T20:23:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T20:46:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism\"},\"wordCount\":368,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism\",\"name\":\"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-20T20:23:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T20:46:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. A Moroccan court has handed pri ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg\",\"width\":1556,\"height\":1105,\"caption\":\"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism - Lesotho","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. A Moroccan court has handed pri ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. A Moroccan court has handed pri ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-02-20T20:23:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-20T20:46:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1556,"height":1105,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism","datePublished":"2026-02-20T20:23:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-20T20:46:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism"},"wordCount":368,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg","keywords":["Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism","name":"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-20T20:23:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-20T20:46:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. A Moroccan court has handed pri ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771620319.617802.jpg","width":1556,"height":1105,"caption":"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccan-court-jails-18-senegalese-fans-for-hooliganism#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Moroccan Court Jails 18 Senegalese Fans for Hooliganism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}