Morocco’s DGSN will open an administrative investigation into individuals who leaked photos of a Moroccan man dressed in women’s clothes.
Rabat – The director general of National Security (DGSN), Abdellatif Hammouchi, has ordered the general inspection commission to investigate who leaked and shared pictures of a crossdressing man arrested in Marrakech on New Year’s Day.
DGSN announced on Wednesday that it will take disciplinary procedures if any of its members were responsible for sharing the pictures.
In the early hours of Tuesday, Marrakech police arrested the man after he hit a motorcyclist with his car and tried to run away, according to a press release by DGSN.
When eyewitnesses and passersby noticed the man was wearing a dress and wig, they started to insult him. The situation nearly got out of hand as people swarmed the man, who tried to hide his face from phone cameras.
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Videos and pictures of the incident have been widely shared on social media networks.
While many Moroccans slurred the man for disrespecting Moroccan culture and society, calling him “immoral” and “effeminate,” others condemned the sharing of pictures and videos as “disrespectful” and “a violation” of his personal freedom.
Some also argued that the man deserves punishment because crossdressing contradicts Islamic morality in the country.
Homosexuality and cross-dressing are considered immoral in Morocco and most of the Muslim world. Same-sex relations are punishable by law according to Articles 483, 489, 490, and 491 of the Moroccan Penal Code.
The New Year’s incident is similar to the experience of another Moroccan man in Marrakech whom locals beat for wearing a woman’s robe in 2015.
The incident had sparked widespread controversy over the violence the homosexual man experienced and LGBTQ rights in Morocco.
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