Rabat – Two men arrested in Tangier for committing homosexual acts face 6 months of prison and a fine of MAD 1000 each.
Tangier’s Primary Court sentenced two men last Friday after the leak of nearly a one-and-a-half minute video, which became viral on Whatsapp, showing the two men engaged in full sexual acts.
The two accused men are a university student and a real estate agent.
Morocco has repeatedly imprisoned men under penal code article 489, which criminalizes “lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex.”
The same article punishes homosexual conduct with sentences between six months and three years in prison and fines of MAD 120 to 1200.
In a previous case of arrest of two men on charges of homosexuality last summer in Agadir, at least 20 Moroccan nongovernmental organizations called for the repeal of penal code article 489.
Despite the 2011 constitution’s commitment to “banish and combat discrimination against any person, by reason of sex, color, creed, culture, social or regional origin, language, disability or any personal circumstances,” homosexuality remains illegal in Morocco.
