Moroccan Scholar Argues Islamic Principles Oppose Criminalizing Adultery

For Asma Lamrabet, former director of the Center for Women’s Studies in Islam, extramarital sexual relations are prohibited by Islam and the other monotheistic religions. Moreover, in Islam, adultery must be proven by the testimony of four people. A requirement which, according to her and the "Collective 490", protects the individual freedom of people.

"Having sexual relations outside of marriage is a morally prohibited act, but this consensual act between two adults cannot be criminalized," explained Asma Lamrabet, whose opinion on the matter joins that of those who call for the repeal of Article 490. According to her, respect or not for the religious prohibition of extramarital sexual relations is a matter of personal moral convictions.

Asma Lamrabet, author of the book "The Quran and Women: A Reading of Liberation", also believes that "we cannot hold people responsible for their relationship with their Creator, because it is entrusted to God. The law should ensure the enforcement of the court decision, protect their privacy and not defame them."

The sextape affair in Tetouan has brought back to the fore this issue of the criminalization of extramarital sexual relations. The accused, a single young woman, mother of two children, accused of "public indecency" and "extramarital sexual relations", has finished serving her one-month prison sentence and was released at the beginning of this month. Her lover, on the other hand, is on the run abroad. "The young woman is a victim of an invasion of her privacy and a victim of the law which, instead of protecting her, condemned her," the "Collective 490" had denounced.