Death of a French tourist attacked in Morocco
Steph Deschamps / December 13, 2022
A French tourist died after being attacked, like her husband, by an "unbalanced" near Rabat, said Monday night the director of the hospital where the two victims had been transferred.
This woman in her eighties "died of a head injury. Her husband, also in his eighties, is in stable condition. He arrived conscious at the hospital," said Dr. Leila Derfoufi to AFP.
No motive was provided to this attack which comes 48 hours before the semi-final of the World Cup 2022 between Morocco and France.
It is a couple. The woman, born in 1940, unfortunately passed away. She arrived already dead at the hospital. We are very disappointed that we could not save her," said the director of the Moulay Youssel Hospital in Rabat.
According to local authorities, the couple was seriously injured after being attacked with a stone by an "unbalanced person" on Monday in Moulay Bousselham, in the province of Kenitra, near Rabat.
An individual showing "signs of mental imbalance" was arrested and taken into custody by the local gendarmerie, the authorities added.
According to initial information, the man "attacked the two tourists for no apparent reason with stones, causing them injuries of various severities," the same source added, without further details.
An investigation is underway under the supervision of the public prosecutor.
The French are by far the most numerous foreign tourists visiting Morocco.
On January 15, a 79-year-old French tourist was murdered with a knife in a market in Tiznit, near Agadir, in southern Morocco.
The Moroccan justice system ruled out terrorism, concluding that the murderer was not criminally responsible because of "mental disorders" and ordering his internment in a psychiatric hospital.