The “Spring of Dignity” coalition organized today an assembly outside the Court of Appeal in Rabat, to protest the lenient sentences issued against three rapists of a young 11-year-old girl.
Several organizations working for the protection of children and women, as well as NGO representatives and members of the community, gathered in front of the Court in Hay Riad to call out the jugement and demand justice for the minor victim.
The protest witnessed a sizable turnout of participants and protestors expressing their outrage over the ruling.
The case has been attentively monitored by The Spring of Dignity coalition and a group of organizations. The defendants, who repeatedly sexually assaulted the child for eight months and got her pregnant, were sentenced to a mere two-years prison sentence, significantly lenient compared to what the Moroccan criminal code stipulates.
The former head of the Federal Women’s Rights League Latifa Bouchoua told Hespress EN: ”we as a coalition denounce these sentences, we are here to show our discomfort with the status of the children and women.”
These punishments do not reflect the brutality of “the collective and continuous rape to the child,” according to Bouchoua.
“This is one case of many that happen in our nation; we frequently encounter instances like this that don’t usually make it to the media,” said the former president.
The Federal League of Women’s Rights ex-president expressed her concern for the children and their families, and demanded that the Moroccan judicial system reacts with justice and assistance for the victims of abuse and rape.
The coalition organized the protest in order to denounce the court’s judgments and sentences, “which do not adequately reflect the gravity of Morocco’s problem with pedophilia and the sexual exploitation of children and women,” said the activist.
President of Jossour Forum Des Femmes Marocaine Khaoula Assebab, also present at the protest, highlighted that they will “maintain support for the young girl raped by three adults.”
The ”unfair sentence to the massive offense” according to the militant, is not supportive of the victims.
“This worsens the situation for women and children in Morocco and makes the victims afraid to seek justice,”said the NGO representative, requesting that “strict laws and extreme verdicts in such cases must be applied.”
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