RABAT • Morocco's anti-terrorist tribunal has jailed 15 Islamists for between one and four years in three separate cases on conviction of terrorist activity or connections, the MAP news agency reported yesterday.

The special court in Sale near Rabat sentenced seven people late on Thursday to between one and two years in prison after the prosecution accused them of links to May 2003 attacks in Casablanca, which killed 45 people including 12 suicide bombers.

Another group of seven were jailed for four years each, after being found guilty of receiving paramilitary training with Algeria's extremist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which was in January renamed the Al Qaeda Branch of the Islamic Maghreb.

Darfur rebel leader to remain in France

PARIS • The French government has renewed the residence permit of Sudanese rebel leader Abdel Wahed Mohamed Al Nur for three months on the understanding that he will take part in peace talks, the foreign ministry said.

Nur, a founder of the Darfur insurgent Sudan Liberation Movement, has been living in France for the past year. It was expected that his residence permit would not be renewed unless he joined peace talks.

"Mr Abdel Wahed Al Nur's stay has been extended by three months. Mr Nur must, during this period, respond positively to the invitations to participate in peace negotiations addressed to him by the UN and the African Union," the foreign ministry said.

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