Rabat – The Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Marrakech has sentenced Khadija Essouidi’s rapists to a total of 58 years in prison.
The story of Khadija Essouidi, the teenager who set herself on fire last July, has come to an end, as the Court of Appeal in Marrakech sentenced her seven rapists to a collective 58 years in prison.
Last August, the same court sentenced one of Essouidi’s rapists to twenty years in prison and postponed the hearing of the seven defendants after the public prosecution requested an extension to carry out its investigation of the defendants’ cell phones.
The investigations conducted by the police revealed that Essouidi fell victim to continuous blackmailing from the rapists, who had repeatedly threatened to share the videotape documenting her rape.
Al Yaoum 24 reports that the total punishment was distributed among the seven defendants. The Court of Appeal sentenced 6 suspects, 5 of whom were previously released by the Court of First Instance, and another who was sentenced to 8 months, to 8 years of prison each. The seventh defendant was sentenced to 10 years.
After the rapists’ release by the court last July, some of them began threatening their victim with sharing the video recordings her rape, which led Khadija Essouidi to commit suicide, according Khadija’s mother.
After the news of her suicide broke, Moroccan social media users and human rights organizations led a massive denunciation campaign and called on the authorities to reconsider the judicial rulings.
