Morocco to axe law allowing rapists to go free if they marry their victim

Women's rights groups welcome change in penal code after suicide of 16-year-old who was forced to marry her alleged rapist

guardian.co.uk, Associated Press in Morocco, Wednesday 23 January 2013

Women protest in support of Amina Filali, who killed herself to get out of
marriage to a man she said raped her. Photograph: Abdeljalil Bounhar/AP

Nearly a year after Morocco was shocked by the suicide of a 16-year-old girl who was forced to marry her alleged rapist, the government has announced plans to change the penal code to outlaw the traditional practice.

Women's rights activists on Tuesday welcomed the announcement by the justice minister, Mustapha Ramid, but said it was only a first step in reforming a penal code that does not do enough to stop violence against women in the north African kingdom.

A paragraph in Article 475 of the penal code allows those convicted of corruption or kidnapping of a minor to go free if they marry their victim. The practice was encouraged by judges to spare family shame.

Last March, 16-year-old Amina al-Filali poisoned herself to get out of a seven-month-old abusive marriage to a 23-year-old she said had raped her.

Her parents and a judge had pushed the marriage to protect family honour. The incident prompted calls for the law to be changed.

The traditional practice can be found across the Middle East and also in countries including India and Afghanistan, where the loss of a woman's virginity out of wedlock is a huge stain on the honour of the family or tribe.

While the age of marriage in Morocco is officially 18, judges routinely approve much younger unions in this deeply traditional country of 32 million with high illiteracy and poverty.

"Changing this article is a good thing but it doesn't meet all of our demands," said Khadija Ryadi, president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. "The penal code has to be totally reformed because it contains many provisions that discriminate against women and doesn't protect women against violence."

She singled out in particular outmoded parts of the law that distinguish between "rape resulting in deflowering and just plain rape". The new article proposed on Monday, for example, gives a 10-year penalty for consensual sex following the corruption of a minor but doubles the sentence if the sex results in "deflowering".

Fouzia Assouli, president of the Democratic League for Women's Rights, echoed Ryadi's concerns, explaining that the code only penalises violence against women from a moral standpoint "and not because it is just violence".

"The law doesn't recognise certain forms of violence against women, such as conjugal rape, while it still penalises other normal behaviour like sex outside of marriage between adults," she added.

Recent government statistics reported that 50% of attacks against women take place within conjugal relations.

The change to the penal code has been a long time in coming and follows nearly a year of the Islamist-dominated government balking at reforming the law.

The justice ministry at the time argued that al-Filali had not been raped and the sex, which took place when she was 15, had been consensual.

The prime minister later argued in front of parliament that the marriage provision in the article was, in any case, rarely used.

"In 550 cases of the corruption of minors between 2009 and 2010, only seven were married under Article 475 of the penal code, the rest were pursued by justice," Abdelilah Benkirane said on 24 December.

While Morocco updated its family code in 2004, a comprehensive law combating violence against women has been languishing in parliament for the past eight years.

The social development minister, Bassima Hakkaoui, the sole female minister in cabinet, said in September she would try to get the law passed.

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Archangel Michael: The Declaration of Human Freedom

“… No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give. …”