Moroccan justice increased this November 15, 2023, on appeal, to four years in prison, the sentences of four men for the rape of a teenage girl in the south of the country which had earned them a year in prison in 2021. sentences that had been considered lax by human rights associations.
Morocco: the Agadir court increased on appeal this Thursday, November 16, the sentence of the four accused of raping a teenage girl. At first instance, they received a year in prison, a verdict which shocked human rights associations and Moroccan public opinion with its leniency. © Getty Images/Romilly Lockyer
In Morocco, a sentence increased on appeal to four years in prison against the rapist of a teenage girl. The verdict was handed down by the Agadir Court of Appeal.
In the first instance in 2021, the defendants were sentenced to one year in prison. This judgment shocked human rights associations and Moroccan public opinion with its clemency.
The four men were convicted of “ violent indecent assault on a minor ”. The facts date back to 2021, in a village near the town of Tata, in the southeast of the country. The victim was then aged 15.
“ As a women’s rights activist, I believe that the verdict is not satisfactory but it is better than the sentences handed down at first instance,” briefly reacted Aïcha Guellaa, the president of the Moroccan Association of Rights. the victims.
This judgment also echoes another case: last March, three men accused of raping an 11-year-old girl were sentenced this time to two years in prison. This decision had already caused a wave of anger in the country. Following a strong mobilization of civil society denouncing the laxity of justice, the sentences were increased last April: 10 years and 20 years in prison.
