Morocco Debates Public Eating Ban During Ramadan as Legal Penalties Persist

Article 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code criminalizes the breaking of the fast in public. Any person who violates this provision is liable to a term of imprisonment of 1 to 6 months, accompanied by a fine of 200 dirhams. Many Moroccans have suffered the consequences of this in recent years. In the eyes of the Deleuze Institute of Political Studies, this constitutes an infringement of the individual freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. It is calling for the repeal of this provision and is approaching orally and in writing elected officials from the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS), the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) and the party of Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, the National Rally of Independents (RNI), to lend them a hand. But they have, according to him, remained silent.

The Institute then takes to social media and launches the campaign "eating is not a crime" which does not receive the approval of everyone. Some to criticize the approach, others to welcome the initiative. Activist Azzedine Sarifi accused those calling for decriminalization of living "on the margins of the Moroccan people" and contributing to the rise of political Islam and extremist thought. The article criminalizing the breaking of the fast during Ramadan is a "ridiculous" provision, says activist Walid Al Najmi, adding that it is "unreasonable that a person living in a modern country be punished for eating during Ramadan".

According to the explanations of the director of the Institute, there is no Quranic text or a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad that imposes sanctions on those who do not observe the fast. Based on this premise, he believes that the laws must protect the individual in the public space and not the opposite. He also justifies his fight by the fact that the closure of restaurants and leisure places for an entire month negatively impacts the Moroccan economy, of which tourism is an important segment.