Moroccan protest leader, 3 others get 20-year sentences

The charismatic leader of a Moroccan protest movement was sentenced to the maximum 20 years in prison along with three activists after mass demonstrations touched off by the death of a fish seller.

Nasser Zefzafi and the three were convicted late Tuesday of threatening state security. Fifty other activists in the 2017 Hirak Rif protests received sentences ranging from one to 15 years for lesser charges.

The seeds of the protest began in October 2016 when an impoverished fish seller in the Berber Rif region was crushed to death trying to retrieve a valuable swordfish seized by police and tossed into a garbage truck.

Subsequent protests marked the biggest challenge to the North African kingdom since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. Zefzafi was arrested in June 2017 after a manhunt.