Marrakech Abortion Network Trial: Doctors and Nurses Appeal Suspended Sentences

Two doctors including a gynecologist, 5 nurses and 8 other defendants, were convicted at first instance in this case, indicates the daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia which recalls that the two doctors aged 77 and 67, were sentenced to 6 months in prison with suspended sentence and to pay a fine of 500 dirhams for the practice of illegal abortion and the sale of prohibited drugs intended for the termination of pregnancy. Another defendant was sentenced to 6 months in prison with a suspended sentence for child abduction, indecent assault and adultery. As for the five nurses and two employees, they were sentenced to two months in prison with a suspended sentence and a fine of 500 dirhams for complicity in the practice of clandestine abortions.

On June 26, 2020, the defendants were arrested in a clinic in the Gueliz district, and referred in custody by the public prosecutor’s office to the criminal chamber of the court of first instance. Abortion drugs as well as files of some patients had been discovered on the premises and seized by the police.

The verdict of the Court of Appeal in this case known as the "largest abortion network in Marrakech" is eagerly awaited by the populations who are impatient to know if the judges will confirm the sentence handed down at first instance.