Rabat – The Court of Appeals in Meknes, a city 100 kilometers west of Fez, has reduced the prison sentence of a woman who used false documents to begin a second marriage before the divorce in her first marriage was final.
The Moroccan judge has ordered the woman convicted of polygamy to serve a one year sentence instead of her original two year sentence from the Court of First Instance.
When her first husband finished a jail sentence last year, he sought to put his “polygamous” wife in prison for taking a second husband, an officer in the army.
Although the woman had begun divorce proceedings, Le Site Info explained that she did not legally request the divorce from her husband and instead falsified documents to get married a second time.
The woman’s case made headlines in August 2018 when her first husband brought a complaint. She told interrogators that she had a child with her second husband, but prosecutors did not charge him with adultery because they believe he was unaware of the first marriage.
Moroccan law allows women to request the court for a divorce while men have the right to demand a divorce. Men are also allowed to be married to up to four women at the same time, but they must obtain the permission of their current wives first.
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