Former Salafist Turned Advisor Pushes for Legal Reforms in Morocco

Better known as "Abou Hafs" in Salafist circles, Mohamed Abdelouahab Rafiqui is in favor of the ongoing reform of texts that grants more individual freedoms to Moroccans. He accepted "without the slightest hesitation" to work with the Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, to "participate in the implementation of a certain project of society that [he has] been defending for more than ten years, more precisely since [his] release from prison following [his] conviction in the context of the May 16 attacks," he explains in an interview with Maroc Hebdo.

"At my modest level, I try to promote values of tolerance and the just mean that are the antithesis of what I was, the deadly ideas that themselves contrast with our Moroccan civilizational foundation," he adds, specifying that he is on the same wavelength as Minister Ouahbi on the broad lines of the reform. Regarding the decriminalization of extramarital sexual relations, Mohamed Abdelouahab Rafiqui believes that "the State simply has no business interfering in people’s private lives as long as they are not harming others. And in this case, it should normally not have the right to intrude