Unrest in Monsanto prison, the high-security establishment reserved for Portugal’s most dangerous inmates, is being led by a triple murderer and a 64-year-old Moroccan suspected of recruiting fighters for Daesh.
The duo is reported to be fronting a protest over the quality of food and reduction of visiting times for families.
Thirteen inmates are now on a hunger strike. Reports suggest the issues stem from lack of prison guards.
The upset is newsworthy in that it involves Pedro Dias – the man who sparked a month-long police hunt after gunning down two police agents and two civilians in Aguiar de Beira in 2016 – and Moroccan Abdessalam Tazi, suspected by the Public Ministry of recruiting immigrants for Daesh at an asylum centre near Lisbon.
Tazi has always denied any kind of involvement with terrorism (click here).
Earlier this summer, Judge Ivo Rosa – the same judge who will be hearing the corruption case against former prime minister José Sócrates – “decided there were no indications” that Tazi was guilty of what he was accused, but the Moroccan remains in preventive custody due to fears that he might abscond (he still faces charges relating to the falsification of passports and money), and because there is a European Arrest Warrant out in his name, issued by authorities in France, also for terrorism charges.
Meantime Public Ministry is expected to appeal Judge Rosa’s decision to discount the principal focus of its case against Tazi.
