Moroccan journalist sentenced to prison for abortion and premarital sex

A Moroccan judge Monday found a journalist and her fiancé guilty of having premarital sex and obtaining an abortion, and imposed prison sentences on them and a doctor convicted of performing the abortion, in a case that critics have denounced as a thinly veiled bid to suppress critical coverage of the government.

>> Aida AlamiThe New York Times
Published : 1 Oct 2019, 06:06 AM
Updated : 1 Oct 2019, 06:06 AM

The journalist, Hajar Raissouni, 28, who works for the independent daily newspaper Akhbar Al Yaoum, and her fiancé, Rifaat al-Amin, were arrested Aug. 31 as they were leaving a gynecologist’s office in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

The defendants denied that an abortion had taken place and said that Raissouni had sought treatment after suffering a blood clot.

“This judgment comes as a shock,” said Cherki Lahrech, a journalist who was present for the verdict. “The defence proved her innocence. I don’t understand what happened. It all poses many questions.”

The judge sentenced Raissouni and al-Amin to one year in prison, and Dr Jamal Belkeziz to two years. A second doctor and an office assistant were also found guilty of taking part in the procedure, but the judge gave them suspended sentences.

Raissouni, wearing a black traditional robe known as a djellaba and a head scarf, showed no outward reaction to the verdict, which drew cries and gasps from others in the courtroom. Several of her friends huddled nearby afterward, crying and consoling each other, then waved goodbye as she was put into a police vehicle and driven away from the courthouse.

The trial was perhaps the most prominent example yet in a pattern of arrests and prosecutions of journalists who are critical of the state, on charges seemingly unrelated to their reporting. Last year, Taoufik Bouachrine, the founder and publisher of Akhbar Al Yaoum, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on sexual assault charges, in a prosecution that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded was unfair.

Akhbar Al Yaoum is one of the few independent news outlets in Morocco. Raissouni has written about human rights and politics, and she has covered demonstrations in the Rif region in the north of the country that resulted in hundreds of arrests.

Her case has sparked protests and a torrent of commentary and criticism online — a rare outburst of public dissent in Morocco, an Arab kingdom on the northwestern coast of Africa. Many called for greater press freedom and for an overhaul of the country’s conservative penal code.

A few days ago, thousands of Moroccans signed a manifesto demanding the legalisation of abortion and sex outside of marriage, just as parliament is set to consider amendments to allow abortion in cases of rape and incest. Currently, the procedure is legal only if a woman’s life is at risk.

A change in the rules governing the news media in 2016 abolished prison sentences for journalists based on their work, but critics say the government has continued its campaign against independent reporting through other charges.

The prosecutor in the case, Abdeslam Imani, has said that the charges had nothing to do with Raissouni’s journalism, and that she was caught by chance because the gynecologist’s office was under surveillance on suspicion of performing illegal abortions.

Anti-abortion laws are rarely enforced in Morocco. Official figures show that 73 people were arrested last year on charges of performing or receiving illegal abortions.

The Clooney Foundation for Justice’s TrailWatch project, which monitored the trial, cited several violations of Raissouni’s rights, as well as evidence that she was never pregnant.

When Raissouni was arrested, Amnesty International asked for her immediate release, saying the charges were “unjust,” and Human Rights Watch denounced the “violation” of her private life as an illustration of the “country’s lack of respect of individual freedoms, and apparently the selective enforcement of unjust laws to punish critical journalism and activism.”

Inès Osman, director of the Geneva-based MENA Rights Group, who has filed a series of complaints at the United Nations in relation to the Raissouni case, said justice could not be expected from the Moroccan court.

“As the judiciary clearly lacks independence and impartiality, we appealed to UN experts to ensure the recognition of the violations Hajar was subjected to, and call on them to urge the Moroccan authorities to release her immediately,” Osman said.

© 2019 New York Times News Service