African country's parliament was resuming debate Tuesday on controversial anti-terrorism legislation.
The government bill, which proposes a broader definition of terrorism, stiffens penalties and eases conditions for courts and police in cases classified as terrorist, has drawn stiff opposition from rights groups.
They note that it goes against the grain of Morocco's efforts to shake off an image of repressive rule associated with King Hassan II, who died in 1999 and was succeeded by his son Mohammed VI, widely seen as failing to deliver on his early pledges of liberalization.
Among other measures, the anti-terrorism bill would allow phone tapping and nighttime searches, and lengthen the permissible period of detention without charge.
Responding to rights groups' protests over an initial text, the government announced amendments aimed at guaranteeing civil liberties, notably regarding searches, custody and the right to legal representation.
But newspaper editorials decrying Friday's attacks called for tough measures against suspected extremists in a country where Islamic militancy was practically unknown before the trauma of the suicide bombings.
"A state of law is by definition a strong state," the independent daily Aujourd'hui le Maroc said, warning against "laxity" in the name of human rights.
"The laxity used up to now towards preachers in private mosques, in buses and taxis, has led to unheard of violence," the paper said after the banned Islamic extremist organization Assirat al Mostaquim (The Straight Path) was implicated in the Casablanca attacks.
Other commentators argued on the other hand that excessive security measures were a dangerous antidote to a vulnerable but volatile section of society mired in poverty and joblessness.
The weekly Tel Quel, calling for the resignation of the head of the intelligence services, charged that suspects had been "abducted, sequestered, tortured and raped" in the name of a "preventive war against terrorism."
Moroccan rights groups in December accused the security forces of launching a "vast kidnapping campaign" targetting mainly suspected al-Qaeda members and Islamist groups.
They said in a joint open letter that dozens of Moroccans and foreigners had been kidnapped since last May by the intelligence services and held in some cases for several months "in secret locations" where they were allegedly subjected to "acts of physical and psychological torture and ceaseless interrogations."
They included three Saudi nationals and seven Moroccans who were arrested last May and accused of being part of an Al-Qaeda sleeper cell that was planning attacks on NATO ships in the Mediterranean and on Moroccan tourist sites.
The daily Al Bayane, for its part, took a swipe at an Islamist party, the Party of Justice and Development (PJD), which has become the main opposition voice in parliament since elections last year.
The PJD - which has firmly denounced the suicide bombings that claimed 29 civilian lives - "has persisted since the legalization of their movement to use religion for political ends," the left-wing paper said in an editorial.
Al Bayane said the PJD should see in the tragedy "evidence of the irresponsibility of its acts," accusing the party of "seeking to deny the existence" of Assirat al Mostaquim.
The Independent daily added: "The tragic events of Casablanca are rallying the entire society ... against a single enemy, terrorism and, as a knock-on effect, against all forms of Islamism."
Many suspected members of radical Islamist groups have been arrested in Morocco in recent months, while the government has come under fire from Islamist groups for delaying municipal elections due to be held in June.
The rise of the PJD has been seen as a popular protest at the failure of mainstream parties to address some of the kingdom's deep-rooted problems, which include high unemployment and great disparities in wealth.
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