ANSAmed
Protesta davanti al tribunale dove si celebra il processo per lo stupro di due ragazze a Rabat, in Marocco (foto archivio)
RABAT – Moroccan authorities on April 1 posted online, on the justice ministry’s website, a draft reform of criminal laws. Yet it was no April Fool’s Day joke but rather a preview of a reform of the Moroccan criminal code which has since sparked a wave of protests by civil society members.
If, in fact, the new reform introduces measures harshening penalties for sexual crimes and alternative detention practices to free up overcrowded jails, it also fails to address civil and individual liberties matters. Eating in public during the Islamic month of fasting Ramadan continues to be a crime liable of a jail term, as is proselytism towards other religions and extra-marital relations, for which sentences have not been eased.
A Facebook page has been dedicated to the theme (https://www.facebook.com/NonAuProjetDeCodePenalMarocain), along with a hashtag in French and Arabic (#Code_penal_no_pasaran) and a petition. Almost 8,000 likes have been posted to say that the new code is ”traditionalist” and ”fails to take into account the evolution of society”.
Sentences against certain crimes have been softened while others, for example being caught under the influence of alcohol in public – which currently provides for a fine ranging between 150 and 500 Dirhams, or 15 to 50 euros – doubled in cases of harassment, raising fines to 2,000-10,000 Dirhams, or 200 to 1,000 euros.
The reform has also been slammed by jurists as inaccurate, giving too much room to interpretation.
Central to the new code is also article 503 on sexual attacks: what should have been a change in line with modernity turned into something else. The measure considers guilty ”anyone attacking someone else in a public place, with behavior, words and gestures of a sexual nature, with a sexual purpose”. And jurists have slammed it as an ”article which cannot be applied” as a woman, for example, cannot report someone she doesn’t know when she is attacked on the street.
Another controversial article, number 420, has remained unchanged. It concerns crimes of ”passion or honor”. In case someone catches a partner with someone else and attacks the person, even killing that person, extenuating circumstances are recognized over ”blows inflicted without the intention to kill, even when they caused death”.
And the death penalty remains in effect with crimes liable of a death sentence reduced to 11, though it is still unclear whether it is compatible with the 2011 Constitution guaranteeing the right to life, as well as with international human rights conventions signed by Morocco.(ANSAmed).
