Moroccan Feminist Activist Reflects on Decade-Long Fight for Individual Freedoms

Betty Lachgar and Zineb El Rhazoui, both Moroccan activists of the Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms (MALI), made headlines 10 years ago. They had organized a picnic in the Mohammadia forest during Ramadan.

"The initiative caused a scandal in a country where Article 222 of the Penal Code provides for between one and six months in prison for those who ’ostensibly break the fast in a public place,’" recalls Le Parisien.

"I have never fasted Ramadan, because I have never felt concerned by the Muslim religion, just as I have never felt guilty about eating pork or consuming alcohol later," confides Ibtissame Lachgar in an interview with the French media.

She is nevertheless pleased to note that society and the media are now addressing these issues of secularism, freedom of conscience and Article 222. "Opening the debate is a victory," she says, satisfied.

However, she regrets a constant: "In Morocco, we are condemned to be Muslims all our lives." According to her, the laws that apply to Moroccans leave no free will, no free choice.