Rabat – Saad Eddine El Othmani stated that laws against sexual violence will be announced in “due time.” For the head of government, the goal is not to punish the perpetrators but to adopt a preventive approach against violence done to women.
El Othmani is finally reacting to the sexual assault case that has sparked outrage all over the country. In a statement issued this Thursday by the government’s first council after the “government holiday,” El Othmani talked about the shocking incident among other major events that shook the Moroccan social scene this summer.
Deeming the crime as a “heinous” one, the head of government lauded the intervention of the police force, which “has done its duty, and what is required of it, and will continue to do what is necessary against those who have committed this outrageous act.”
El Othmani also applauded the “immediate and efficient” reaction of civil society, “which denounced the crime and called for immediate, long-term, and radical treatment of such phenomena.”
The head of government also stated that its Executive has “started the process of thinking” to develop mechanisms to deal with such issues, “not only to punish those who committed the crime, but to prevent it.” He stressed the need to “ensure that these actions are not repeated in the future.”
He added that “the mechanisms and strategy to be followed by the government in this area will be announced in a timely manner.”
El Othmani is not the first governmental official to talk about the news. The Minister of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development, Bassima Hakkaoui, took 48 hours to issue a reaction to the case, expressing her regret and concern about the crime, which she deemed “foreign” to the Moroccan society.
In a post shared on her Facebook page, the minister asked, “How can a minor commit such violence and be very happy? How can a minor joyfully commit a crime as if he’s playing with something?”
Mustapha Ramid, Minister in charge of Human Rights was the first to comment on the case. “Attacks against women in the public space have always existed, what changed is their media coverage on social networks,” Ramid said, stressing that it is not so much of a legal problem as a matter of education.
