Moroccan Court Overturns Landmark Marital Rape Conviction, Sparking Outrage

"The judgment rendered, coinciding with the National Day of Moroccan Women, is shameful," said Samira Muheya, president of the Federation of Leagues of Women’s Rights, to Hespress, recalling that "when the judgment was rendered in 2019, we welcomed it, and we considered it to be in line with the Kingdom’s orientations in terms of strengthening the human rights of women. We had hoped that this would finally mark a real and effective application of Article 19 of the Constitution, which calls for the consecration of gender equality. But, unfortunately, the Court of Cassation has contradicted the Kingdom’s orientations concerning this democratic path, the principles of human rights and international conventions."

According to her, the decision of the Court of Cassation, "favorable to a retrograde and even devaluing legal interpretation and vision towards women and even from the legal point of view of the family, places women in second place behind men" and "consecrates an unjust application of the law." The president of the Federation of the League of Women’s Rights will continue: "Today, as we work within the framework of the open projects for a profound and complete reform of the Family Code and a radical change in the penal system, we are confronted with a judgment of this type, which encourages marital rape and a sexual relationship between spouses based on obedience and non-consent, whereas this relationship should be based on choice, love and freedom of consent."

The case that led to the Court of Appeal’s decision in 2019 dates back to June 2018, when a woman suffering from bleeding was taken by ambulance to the Larache hospital. She had told the judicial police officers that her husband had become angry and threatened to kill her after she told him of her intention to end the relationship. In his anger, the husband had sexually assaulted her.