The Point de Bascule has reported that the Moroccan Minister of Family is opposed modifying the Moroccan Criminal Code that allows a man guilty of rape on a minor to escape his sentence by marrying his victim. According to the report:
Point de Bascule on 13 Août 2012 The Minister of Family, Bassima Hakkaoui, opposed modifying the Moroccan Criminal Code that allows a man guilty of rape on a minor to escape his sentence by marrying his victim. This text is based on three recent articles reporting about two teenagers forced to marry their rapist:
L’Express (August 2, 2012): Morocco: Benkirane does not amuse the king anymore (Maroc : Benkirane n’amuse plus le roi)
L’Express (March 15, 2012): Morocco: a teenager kills herself after marrying her rapist (Maroc : une adolescente se suicide après avoir épousé son violeur)
Yalibladi.com (June 27, 2012): Salé: Another young girl forced to marry her rapist (Salé : Une nouvelle jeune fille forcée d’épouser son violeur)
Section 475 of the Moroccan Criminal Code allows a man guilty of rape on a minor to escape his sentence by marrying his victim.
Often, the rapist’s family puts pressure on the girl’s parents so that they keep quiet and end the situation by marrying the daughter. Forced to marry her rapist, Amina Al Filali, a 16-year old teenager killed herself in March 2012.
Read the rest here.
A post from April reported that the Moroccan Prime minister refused to speak with the female Belgian Minister of Justice during an official meeting.
In December 2001, a post reported that Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi was among the first of the Islamic scholars to congratulate the Justice and Development Party (JDP) on its parliamentary victory. In June of that year, African media reported on comments by Abdelilah Benkiran stridently objecting to freedom of religion and tolerance of homosexuality. In March 2001, another post reported that a JDP leader was one of the participants at conference that brought together an unusual and significant number of participants from the Global Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian Brotherhood, and other Islamist movements that also included Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of the Tunisian political party tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood that was victorious in recent elections there.