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Rabat – Hafsa Boutahar, the colleaugue and alleged rape victim of Omar Radi, gave more details about the alleged violent sexual assault she faced on July 12.
Boutahar opened up about the case in July a few days after police arrested Radi on charges of rape and receiving funds from a foreign agent.
The alleged victim previously gave interviews about the incident, but her recent talk with Le360 carries more details about the night in question.
Boutahar, who works for Le Desk, where Radi has been a journalist, claimed that Radi acted inappropriately towards her during the night of alleged rape, leading up to the incident, despite the nature of their relationship.
She said Radi was “not a friend and never was.”
Rather, the journalist was a “colleague, no more and no less.”
Boutahar described what she showed with regards to the Amnesty International case as support.
“I was neither against him nor on his side. But I showed support, humanity and compassion for a colleague.”
On June 22, Amnesty International published a report in which the NGO alleged that the Moroccan government targeted Radi with a spyware program from NSO.
Moroccan officials denied the accusations against the government, urging the NGO to provide material evidence to back the allegations.
Read Also: Omar Radi’s Alleged Rape Victim: ‘I Was Afraid of Scandal’
The NGO did not yet provide a sufficient response to Morocco’s request. Instead of responding with evidence, Amnesty International termed Morocco’s request a “smear campaign.”
Amid the rift between Amnesty International and Morocco, police received a complaint from Boutahar, who accused him of violent rape.
Details of the night in question
On the day of the alleged rape, both Boutahar and Radi were staying at their bosses’ house. The villa, located in Casa Green Town in Casablanca, also has a basement where colleagues gather to work for Le Desk.
Boutahar, who ancklowedged that her bosses offered her a place to stay during lockdown in a different interview, said she was on a sofa in the basement speaking to her fiance at night when the alleged rape took place.
While she was on a video call with her fiance, who lives in San Francisco, Omar Radi and their colleague Imad Stitou also came and laid down on other sofas in the house.
Boutahar said she had to spend the night on the sofa as guests of the family were occupying the room offered by her bosses.
“While I was talking to my fiance, I heard Omar, who I thought was asleep, telling me that I am beautiful.”
She answered him using emojis to express thanks for the compliment.
Radi subsequently sent her a message, asking her if he had to go to her or she was going to him.
She answered him, saying that he could come to her after she ended her conversation with her fiance.
The alleged victim stressed she thought Radi wanted to “talk, that’s all.”
Boutahar said that Radi’s supporters used her message to argue that what the two had was “consensual relations,” at her request.
An investigation is still ongoing to determine the veracity and circumstances of the rape case. Boutahar, however, remains attached to her assertions.
Allegedly ‘brutal’
Before the alleged rape, Boutahar claimed that Radi was acting inapproriately toward her.
She said that he was “drunk and happy.”
Then he asked her to go upstairs and get him a guitar because he wanted to play.
“He followed me up the stairs, he was pressing [against me] and I made sure to dodge and push him back.”
When everyone was sleeping, Radi allegedly came to her wearing a shirt but no pants.
“He started touching me everywhere. I tried to talk to him. I told myself that it was impossible for him to try such a thing with everything that happened to him. You had to be crazy to do that,” she added.
Radi sniffed at her as a “wild animal that caught prey.” She was in a state of “semi-conscious trauma” as Radi forcibly penetrated her.
Further revelations
During the alleged rape, Omar Radi reportedly told the victim, “let it go, I’m going to call Imad to have a threesome.”
In a previous interview, Boutahar condemend the silence of Stitou, saying that the rape happened under his watch.
Boutahar also shared that a young woman who “is also a victim of the duo” contacted her after news of the rape case became public.
The other woman told her she had “threesome sex” with Radi and Stito, Boutahar said.
The woman told Boutahar she was “not the only one who had been forcibly subjected to this.”
Radi claims innocence
The Moroccan journalist continues to assert that he is innocent in the two cases he has been facing.
The journalist and his supporters insist that the charges against him are null.
Radi stressed in a press release that what he had with Boutahar was a sexual relationship.
He said he had consensual sex with her twice.
“I and the complainant were in complete agreement regarding this relationship,” he said.
He vowed to reveal more information about the case soon, without specifying the nature.
The journalist also denied the accusations that he was receiving funds from a foreign agent.
Prior to his arrest, Radi said Moroccan security services have nothing against him that proves his involvement with a foreign agent.
He also supports the claims of Amnesty International that the Moroccan government spied on him.
When asked why the government was spying on him, Radi told Morocco World News, “I don’t know why, ask them.”
