Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat- In a statement posted on the internet, Al Qaeda in Iraq indicated that the two kidnapped Morocco embassy employees would stand trial in an Islamic court.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s group claimed to have abducted the two Moroccans on October 20 th, as they drove to the Iraqi capital from Jordan.

“After completing the interrogation of the two detainees, who work for the Moroccan embassy [in Baghdad], they were sent to the Islamic jurisprudence court, which will determine their fate,” said the statement.

The group published a number of personal documents including two Moroccan passports it said belonged to Abdul Rahim Boualem, aged 55, an embassy driver and a father of three, and 49 year-old Abdul Karim al Mohafidi, a maintenance worker. Both men are married to Iraqi women. Their kidnapping was announced on 26 th October.

It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the statement but it was posted on an Islamic website known for publishing the group’s material.