The Minister of Justice and Secretary General of the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), Abdellatif Ouahbi, assured that homosexuality cannot be "legalized" in a "Muslim country" like Morocco, despite the manipulations of Islamist currents on this issue.
Sexual violence against minors and women is reaching alarming proportions in Morocco, warns the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), which calls for an urgent reform of the Penal Code.
Moroccan lawyer Ghizlane Mamouni, known for her fight against Article 490 of the Moroccan Penal Code and her commitment to reforming the Family Code, will exchange this Tuesday with her counterpart from Nantes, Anne Bouillon, on the situation of women’s rights in Morocco and France, during a conference at the Jacques-Demy media library in Nantes.
Moroccan personalities are calling on the Moroccan government, which is in the midst of preparing a reform of the Penal Code, to decriminalize extramarital sexual relations and abortion, make it mandatory for the father to recognize the child born of an extramarital relationship, give priority to financial sanctions over imprisonment for the offense of blasphemy, and abolish the death penalty, etc.
In Morocco, the Collectif 490 continues its fight for the repeal of Article 490 of the Penal Code which punishes "imprisonment of one month to one year all persons of different sex who, not being united by the bonds of marriage, have sexual relations between them." Recently, it launched a new digital campaign.
A 11-year-old Moroccan girl, raped several times by three men two years ago, became pregnant after this assault and gave birth. Her father filed a complaint and the perpetrators of this crime were recently sentenced to sentences of one and a half to two years in prison. Insignificant sentences that have caused outrage in the kingdom.
In Morocco, extramarital sex and abortion are two practices prohibited by law and religion. Prohibitions that are nevertheless circumvented, one way or another, believes the Moroccan sociologist, Sanaa El Aji El Hanafi, who calls for a serious debate on sexuality for a change in mentalities.
The Secretary General of the Party of Justice and Development (PJD), Abdelilah Benkirane, publicly attacked the Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, regarding the ongoing debate on "consensual relationships" in the context of the reform of the Penal Code and the Family Code.
The officials of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) were at the parliament on Wednesday to explain to the deputies the need to harmonize the law on violence against women with criminal law and the Family Code.
Eight personalities who have held important positions in Morocco have just published a document, a kind of manifesto that they hope will lead to a draft law on the reform of individual freedoms.
In Morocco, the conviction of Moroccan star Saad Lamjarred to six years in prison for aggravated rape by the Assize Court of Paris is considered a victory for Moroccan women and marks a new beginning for Moroccan feminists. They call for the repeal of Article 490 of the Moroccan Penal Code.
Morocco wants to implement the electronic bracelet as an alternative to pre-trial detention. The process for choosing the company managing the platform has been launched and the Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, opts for a national preference.