The shooting and mistaken target
On November 2, 2017, gunmen opened fire at La Crème café in Marrakech's Hivernage district. Hamza Chaib, a 26-year-old medical student, was killed and two other people were wounded. Moroccan and Dutch reporting described Chaib as an unintended victim: investigators said the café's Moroccan-Dutch owner was the intended target but was not present at the relevant moment.
This archive does not treat every wider organized-crime allegation reported during the investigation as a judicially established fact. The direct criminal case against the principal defendants is separated from allegations about who may have commissioned or facilitated the attack.
2019 trial and appeals
In July 2019, two Dutch defendants received death sentences in Morocco for the killing. Other defendants received prison terms of varying lengths for their respective roles. Contemporary NOS reporting emphasized that the principal defendants denied involvement and that an appeal would follow.
In January 2023, Moroccan appellate proceedings again produced death sentences for the two principal defendants. Further review continued after that ruling, so this page does not treat the 2023 judgment as the final procedural event.
The January 2026 judgment
On January 12, 2026, the criminal chamber of the Casablanca Court of Appeal again upheld death sentences for the two principal defendants. Hespress identified them in earlier reporting as Edwin Gabriel Robles Martínez and Shardyone Ulises Girigorio Semerel. The court also modified prison terms for several co-defendants, underscoring that not every defendant was found responsible for the same conduct.
Morocco retains capital punishment in law but has not carried out an execution since 1993. This page therefore records the death sentences as court outcomes and does not state or imply that the men have been executed.
Why the case is classified as adjudicated
The current public record contains repeated convictions and a recent appellate judgment against the two principal shooters. That is sufficient to classify the direct killing as adjudicated at the current appellate stage. The classification does not convert separate allegations about the broader criminal network or alleged commissioning into additional convictions.
November 2, 2017: Hamza Chaib is killed and two other people are wounded at La Crème café in Marrakech.
July 2019: two principal defendants receive death sentences; other defendants receive different prison terms.
January 2023: appellate proceedings again result in death sentences for the two principal defendants.
January 12, 2026: the Casablanca Court of Appeal confirms the death sentences and adjusts several co-defendants' prison terms.
Current status
The two principal defendants remain subject to the capital sentences confirmed in the January 2026 appellate ruling. Morocco's long-standing non-execution practice is kept separate from the legal validity of those sentences.
Sources
Archive context
This case is included in the Morocco archive. Related files include The 2007 Casablanca Bombing Series and The Murder of Thami Bennani, each with its own evidentiary and procedural record.