Morocco reconsiders rape-marriage law after teenage girl's suicide (Video)

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
3/19/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Under current laws, rapists can escape prosecution if they marry victim

After a 16-year-old girl killed herself by swallowing rat poison to avoid marrying the man who sexually assaulted her, Morocco is rethinking its old legislation. In Morocco, a rapist can marry his victim in order to preserve the honor of the woman's family. Under Moroccan law, rape is punishable by five to 10 years in prison, rising to between 10 and 20 years if the victim is a minor.

In some societies, including several in the Arab world, the loss of a woman's virginity outside of marriage is considered a dishonor to her family. Arrangements are then often made for rape victims to marry their attackers.

Facebook Delicous MySpace

Twitter Stumble Digg

More Destinations

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Moroccan government is now looking to amend the controversial law.

The teenage girl in question, Amina Al Filali in Larache, near the city of Tangiers took her own life after being severely beaten during a forced marriage to her rapist.

Witnesses say her husband became so outraged when she drank the poison he dragged her down the street by her hair, and she died shortly afterward.

The girl's rapist had sought to escape prison by invoking an article of the penal code that he claimed would exonerate him if the rape victim was his wife.

"We can't ignore what happened, one of the things we are looking for is to toughen the sentence for rape," Mustapha el-Khalfi, the Moroccan communications minister says.

"We are also looking to creating a debate on the cultural and social aspects to create a comprehensive reform," said el-Khalfi.

Woman activist Abadila Maaelaynine wrote on the social network site Twitter: "Amina, 16, was triply violated, by her rapist, by tradition, and by Article 475 of the Moroccan law."

An online petition was initiated and protests were planned for Saturday against the law branded by campaigners as an "embarrassment."

Filali's father said that when he reported the rape of his daughter, he was advised of the option to marry by court officials.

"The prosecutor advised my daughter to marry. He said: 'Go and make the marriage contract,'" Lahcen Filali told an online news Web site.

In some societies, including several in the Arab world, the loss of a woman's virginity outside of marriage is considered a dishonor to her family. Arrangements are then often made for rape victims to marry their attackers.

While Morocco has updated its so-called family code in 2004 in a move to improve the situation of women, women activists say there is still room for improvement. Proposed constitutional reforms in Morocco include moves to boost women's rights.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Morocco, rape victim, rape marriage law, womens rights

NEWSLETTERS »

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 10 of 10 Comments

Martine
1 year ago
John D, This law that allows rapists to escape punishement by marrying their victims (with the victim's consent etc) is not Islamic not derived from any Islamic law. This is purely "man"-made law. I remember reading few years back that Greece used to have similar law but abolished it some 15 years ago. I am glad to hear that the Moroccans are working on changing this.
Please let's not lose focus. This is not about Islam it's just about a badly thought legal system.
Maryem
1 year ago
The good thing is that The Moroccan government is now looking to amend the controversial law. It is also sad that some people will exploit topics like these to advance their agenda, and spew hate by comparing religions. To be fair to islam, sharia law does forbid forced marriages and forced conversions. Moroccos's laws also prohibits forced marriage, but some family laws in Morocco allow for the judge to rule under his/her discretion, taking the society's culture into account. This is where that particular judge screwed up.

Not all muslims are against women right. Many are educated and reasonable guys just like everywhere. And the fact that many felt "embarassed" by that verdict is a positive sign.
John D
1 year ago
I have a Muslim friend as well. He's a great fellow. I really like him. But he's practicing a "Christianized" version of Islam, not true Middle Eastern Islam. There's a big difference. The Catholic Church's position on slavery goes back further then the late 1800's. Papal Bulls were issued regarding this topic much earlier. Here is a good source of information: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/facts/fm0007.html Also, we're not judging anyone here, we're merely discussing doctrines of various religions and when I study any religion, I focus on its doctrine, not how its adherents behave. What does the religion stand for and what are its doctrines? The reason I do this is because a bad Catholic, for example, is not representative of the Catholic faith. It is the doctrine that counts, not people's various opinions and interpretations. Lastly, women are equal, but different. Many feminists claim that men have held them down for centuries by keeping them "barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen". The truth is that for most of history, being in the kitchen was much softer then the men's role, which often involved risking life, limb, and health in a mine or factory or war. I'm not sure where you got the understanding that women were defacto second class citizens. In the traditional Eurpean family, the women were strong and ran the household.
Bulbajer
1 year ago
John D., if the Church is the only authority on interpretation, then why hasn't it been more vocal on the way women or slaves or minorities have been treated over the years? Although there have always been brave and clear-sighted people who saw past the biases of their time and recognized injustice, including many Catholics, the Church didn't start to get involved until the late 1800s. Sure, the Church has always honored women - in a sense. Mary was upheld as the model for all women, but somehow men were not expected to follow the same moral rules. Women should be quiet and humble, women should know their place, should always respect their husbands (assuming that they have one), should devote themselves to the home. Most of these ideals are indeed true, but aren't many of these same ideals (humility, patience, chastity, consideration, etc.) applicable to all people, regardless of gender? Religious writings of all Christian denominations until relatively recently treated women as equal in theory but effectively second-class. They have disproportionately focused personal morality on women and worldly responsibility on men. As for Muhammad, if historical evidence (and the Qu'ran itself) is accurate, I don't care much for the man. I respect Islam because I have friends and loved ones who are Muslim who practice their faith in peace and worship God with the same love as we do. I see the same flaws in Islam as you do, but Christianity also has flaws. I'm not trying to compare the two and say that the abuses of Christians are equal to the abuses of Muslims. I'm just saying that we shouldn't judge 1.5 billion people by the actions of some. Should we judge Anglicans by Henry VIII?
John D
1 year ago
Bulbajer, clouding the issue of how women are treated in the Islamic world by cherry picking Bible vereses is not going to work. In the Catholic orbit we do not engage in "private interpretation" of the Bible. Only the Magisterium in Rome has the authority to interpret scripture. People have hand picked verses from the Bible to support all sorts of positions including the rapture, abortion, and same sex marriage. There's over 30,000 different Christian denoiminations, each one claiming to have the proper interpretation of scripture. Most people engaged in this practice are not experts in the languages, customs, intended audiences, and historic backdrops of the verses they use to support their positions. Any properly catechized Catholic knows the Bible is not to be taken literally in every instance. I am not a scripture expert, and as such I do not know the backdrop to all of those verses, but I'm pretty sure the Bible is not telling us women are stupid and should not speak. I do know that in Roman Catholic wedding vows there is talk of love and honor until "death due us part". Further, nowhere in the Catechism of the Catholic Church are women designated as second class citizens. You would be hard pressed to find women in other religions who have the stature of St. Mary, Mother Teresa, or Joan of Arc (plus countless other female saints). No good Catholic treats women with such disrespect. Now, if you want to know the meaning behind the Koran, ask yourself how Muhammed and his men lived? Ask yourself how women were treated? Wives and daughters of Christians and Jews captured in battle were used as concubines. Muhammed is the most perfect example for other Muslims to emulate and he engaged in this. I'm sorry, but there really is no comparison here.
Bulbajer
1 year ago
John D., nowhere. But the Epistles, while kinder to women than the Qu'ran, still are what anyone, liberal or conservative, would call "sexist." "1 Corinthians 11:3
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 - "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." Ephesians 5:22-24 -
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Colossians 3:18 - "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 1 Timothy 2:11-15 - "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing. Titus 2:4-5 - "Teach the young women to be ... obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. 1 Peter 3:1 - "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands." Sorry if these translations are from various versions, Catholic and non-Catholic, I got them off the internet for convenience purposes. My point is that a literal reading of almost any religious text will lead to various abuses, such as the abuse of women, as we have seen in the past of the West and in the past and present of the Islamic world.
John D
1 year ago
Bulbajer, you have to be kidding. Where in the Epistles does it say it's OK to beat your wife if she is disobedient? Where in the Epistles does it say you can have four wives and all the sex you can handle with slave girls you've captured in battle (per the Koran, such relationships are "blameless"). Where in the Epistles does it say two women are needed as witnesses so, "one can remind the other in case one forgets something important".
Bulbajer
1 year ago
More countries need to look at the case of this poor girl and realize that women are not objects! John D., that isn't exactly fair. Look at what the Epistles have to say about the role of women.
Man is a creature of haste
1 year ago
The penal code in Morocco stipulates that indecent acts perpetrated or attempted without violence over a child under 18 years, carry from 2 to 5 years of imprisonment (article 484); indecent acts perpetrated or attempted with violence against a minor of less than 18 years of age, carry form 10 to 20 years of imprisonment (article 485) - furthermore, if the indecent act against females under 18 years of age causes the loss of virginity, the crime will be punished with 20 - 30 years of imprisonment (article 485 - 486).

In Morocco the age of consent is set at 18 (tied to wedlock); however, in "justified cases" the marriageable age can be reduced. In rural areas especially, it's common for young teens (under 18) to get married. Keeping things in perspective, in parts of Europe the age of consent is as low as 15 (France, Denmark, Sweden, Greece), & in other parts, lower (Germany, 14; Italy, 14; Spain, 13). Furthermore, article 475 does not exonerate rapists, rather the article deals strictly with cases of statutory rape (intercourse with anyone under the age of 18) wherein the courts would judge according to evidence (as with all court cases) and might only exonerate the adult party by way of marriage along the premise that the minor was consenting, is adjudged to be of sufficient age and that all relevant parties would settle for marriage. (The premise made in accordance with articles 484 - 486).
John D
1 year ago
Readers might be interested in what the Koran has to say about women's rights: http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Fisher/Topical/ch04.htm

Prev1Next

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment