In Morocco, a demonstration took place against a judgment handed down by the courts in a case of rape of a minor which moved the whole country. Three men who repeatedly raped an 11-year-old girl have been sentenced to up to two years in prison.
They were more than a hundred to respond to the call launched by “Rabii El Karama”, the coalition of the Spring of Dignity, a team of Moroccan associations for the defense of human rights. Signs and banners in hand, serious looks, the demonstrators chant “Where is equality” after the judgment rendered by the Moroccan justice in the case of the rapists of an 11-year-old girl.
The three men tried for this crime were sentenced to up to two years in prison. “We gathered today to ask how justice could make this decision when the law says that rape on a minor is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison. We are not only asking for the judgment to be reviewed but also for the penal law to be amended,” explains Khadija Zeriri, co-organizer of the rally.
The participants also ask that a children’s law be put in place to regulate court decisions related to cases of sexual violence against minors. For Ghizlane Mamoouni, president of the Kif mama kif baba association, which campaigns for equality between the two sexes, this would force judges to impose heavier sentences.
“This power of appreciation left to the judge, which therefore exists in all countries of the world and which, in normal times, can be very useful to assess particular cases, and indeed there, is used to send a message of total impunity child molesters, paid criminals. And that is unacceptable,” she says.
The Minister of Justice also said he was “frustrated and shocked” by the verdict. For its part, the prosecution appealed this decision and the trial begins Thursday at the Rabat Court of Appeal.