 |
| Moroccan activists hold posters of Hajar Raissouni, a journalist charged with having sex before marriage and having an illegal abortion, during a protest outside the Rabat tribunal, Morocco, September 9, 2019. |
Rabat, MOROCCO
Morocco’s king has pardoned
Hajar Raissouni, a journalist sentenced to a year in prison last month for
extramarital sex and an abortion, along with her fiancé, a doctor and two of
his colleagues, the justice ministry said on Wednesday.
The case of Raissouni, who
had denied the charges against her, outraged human rights activists who said
she had been targeted for her work for a newspaper that has criticised the
state, and because she is the niece of a prominent Islamist.
The Justice Ministry
described King Mohammed VI’s intervention in the case as “an act of compassion
and mercy”, adding that Raissouni and her fiance had wanted to establish a
family legally.
The case drew
widespread criticism from both Moroccan and foreign rights activists, who
painted it as an attack on the free press and on civil rights.
Extramarital sex and abortion are
illegal in Morocco, a
mostly orthodox Muslim country.
However, the Moroccan
Association for Abortion Rights, an activist group, said 600 to 800 abortions
take place illegally each day. In 2018, 41 cases were brought over illegal
abortions, according to a report released by the prosecutor’s office.
Raissouni, 28, works
for Akhbar al-Youm, an independent newspaper that has been critical of the
Moroccan state, and is the niece of a Muslim theologian who is a former leader
of a politically influential Islamist group.
Raissouni said police
had taken her for forcible medical checks against her will and had asked her
about her work at the newspaper and about her uncles.
Her lawyers and rights
activists said the checks without her consent amounted to torture.
In court, the
prosecutor dismissed any suggestion of procedural irregularities, and said that
the circumstances of Raissouni’s arrest had been legal and the case had nothing
to do with her work as a journalist.
Raissouni and her fiancé
had said in court that they had been married in a religious ceremony but had
not yet arranged a legal marriage contract.
Police had said they
detained her as she was leaving a clinic they were investigating for abortions.
She and the doctor said
she was there to receive treatment for a blood clot and denied that she had had
an abortion.
No comments:
Post a Comment