Frenchman who signed Arabic terrorism confession appeals
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This photo dated June 2015 and provided by his mother, Beatrice, shows France's Thomas Gallay during a wedding ceremony in St Martin d'Hieres. Thomas Gallay who was arrested Feb. 2016, in anti-terrorism raids in Morocco, was in court Wednesday Feb. 22, 2017, to appeal against his conviction and six-year prison sentence, claiming he signed a confession in Arabic that he could neither read nor understand. (Courtesy Beatrice Gallay via AP) (The Associated Press)
A Frenchman arrested in anti-terrorism raids in Morocco is in court to appeal his conviction, claiming he signed a confession in Arabic that he could neither read nor understand.
The case of Thomas Gallay has drawn criticism from rights groups and France's former justice minister, who say his confession, trial and conviction were unfair. Gallay, an engineer who was working in Morocco, was arrested in February 2016 in an anti-terror sweep and accused of supporting a terrorist organization.
Gallay's lawyer and mother say he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and unknowingly signed a confession handed to him by police. Moroccan authorities say he was a convert to Islam who gave 70 euros to two Moroccan members of a terror cell. Gallay received a six-year prison sentence.