Mustapha Tabet

As of 2022, he remains the last person to executed after a death sentence in Morocco.

Mohamed Mustapha Tabet (Arabic: محمد مصطفى ثابت, 1949 – September 5, 1993), known by his nickname Hajj Hamid (Arabic: حاج حميد) or Hajj Tabet (Arabic: الحاج ثابت), was a Moroccan serial rapist and former police commissioner who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping, rapes and assaults of more than 518 women in his Casablanca apartment from 1986 to 1993. The case became one of the most egregious examples of police corruption and sexual abuse in the country, as Tabet used his status to dismiss and cover-up evidence of his crimes. He was eventually be convicted and sentenced to death in March, 1993 and subsequently executed by firing squad the following September in 1993, after spending approximately 6 months on death row.

On February 2, 1993, the Royal Gendarmerie, without informing the police and without a warrant, decided to raid Tabet's house. During the raid, they found and seized two remote control video cameras, two microphones hidden under the bed, identity cards of women, cocaine, 118 video tapes featuring victims having intercourse with Tabet, sometimes with other men, and a list consisting of the names and addresses of dozens of women on Tabet's computer.

On February 18, 1993, Tabet's trial started, the trial was held in camera during Ramadan, he was charged with "indecent assault, defloration, rape with violence, abduction, and sequestration of a married woman, acts of barbarism and incitement to debauchery, falsification and destruction of evidence" in front of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Casablanca.

On March 15, 1993, Mustapha Tabet was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death by firing squad, 30 other accomplices were sentenced from 5 months to 20 years in prison, Tabet's superior officer, Ahmed Ouachi, received a life sentence, he received a royal pardon in 2000. Tabet's father disowned him after the verdict. Islamic fundamentalist groups denounced the verdict, demanding death by stoning or crucifixion rather than firing squad. A march was held after the verdict denouncing sexual assault in Rabat.

On September 5, 1993, six months after his trial, at Kenitra Central Prison, Tabet was woken up by the call to Fajr prayer.

In August 1992, a Moroccan student in Milan recognized his sister while watching a pornographic video cassette with his friends. The student went back to Casablanca the next day in search of answers, after confronting his family with the tape, he found out that the sister met someone calling themselves Hajj in 1991. Afterwards, the student found where Hajj lived, he ended up going to Hajj's apartment to meet his sister, after spotting his sister entering the house, he was quickly arrested and arbitrarily detained. The student was freed the next day, he rented a new car and "kidnapped" his sister while on his way to Hajj's house. He filmed his sister's confession and version of the story and, as an Italian citizen, the student sent the videotape to the Italian embassy, who relayed it to the Prime Minister's office. After Prime Minister Abdellatif Filali received a copy of the video, he relayed it to the king of Morocco, Hassan II. Hassan, who was planning a police reform, ordered an immediate investigation, and a secret investigation cell was opened by the Royal Gendermerie.

In 1990, a woman and her girlfriend were reported to have filed a complaint for rape and kidnapping to local police in the Hay Mohammadi district of Casablanca against someone calling themselves "Hajj Hamid". Police found inconsistencies in her story, the women admitted that they were not kidnapped. "Hajj Hamid" allegedly told the women that the act was videotaped and promised to give them a copy by Eid al-Fitr. "Hajj Hamid" was quickly identified as Mustapha Tabet by policemen, however, it was discovered Tabet were the investigating officer's supervisors. Police officers tried to convince the women to drop charges to no avail. The women filed another complaint to a different police station, only for the complaint to get ignored.

Mohammed Mustapha Tabet was born in 1949 in Beni Mellal, Morocco. After graduating high school in 1970, he worked as an Arabic teacher before enrolling in the police academy in Khenifra in 1974. Tabet entered the Renseignements Généraux (RG), Morocco's police intelligence agency, in 1975. By 1989, he had become the head of the Casablanca bureau of the RG.