MOROCCO: A Moroccan court has dramatically increased the jail sentences given to three men convicted of “indecent assault” for repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl in a case that generated public outrage.
Early on Friday, the appeals court in Rabat condemned two men to ten years in prison and one to twenty. After a lower court sentenced one of the girl’s three alleged attackers to two years in jail and the others to 18 months each, the girl’s attorneys, representing the now 12-year-old, filed an appeal.
Each of the three could have spent up to 30 years in prison. The three men were required to pay damages totalling 140,000 dirhams (almost $14,000) by the appeals court as opposed to the lower court’s order of 50,000 dirhams.
“We are satisfied with the decision that delivered justice to the victim,” attorney Abdelfattah Zahrach told AFP following the lengthy session. He added, “We do not comprehend why two accused have only been sentenced to 10 years.”
He also indicated that “after consulting the child’s family,” he was considering filing another appeal with the Court of Cassation. The prosecution had sought that the court hear the victim’s and a witness’s testimony in secret, citing concerns about child protection.
The hearing on Thursday was well-attended and continued into the early hours of Friday. The victim was accompanied by her father and grandmother, who both appeared elderly and were silent.
The same accusations against the defendants as in the last trial – “misappropriation of a minor” and “indecent assault on a minor with violence” – were brought against them.
The judge denied the prosecution’s attempt to add the accusation of “rape” to the charges. The defendants sat in the dock with their heads hanging low as evidence was given.
A DNA test on one of the men revealed that he was the biological father of the girl’s now 13-month-old child. When questioned about how this occurred, he constantly said, “I don’t know.”
The case has sparked controversy in North Africa, and a petition denouncing the penalties from March 20 has gathered tens of thousands of signatures. The Jossour Forum of Moroccan Women stated last month that the girl from a village close to Rabat was repeatedly raped over several months.
The girl “is starting to smile a little, but she is still in shock,” according to Amina Khalid, executive director of INSAF, a women’s rights organisation that followed the kid’s case. INSAF assisted the girl in attending school for the first time.
