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Rabat – Sheikh Omar Al Kazabri, the imam at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca and a top imam in Morocco, has defended Moroccans advocating for the death penalty as punishment for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 11-year-old Adnane Bouchouf in Tangier.
On Friday, police in Tangier arrested a 24-year-old man who confessed to raping and killing Adnane Bouchouf on September 9. The killer led police to a garden where he buried Adnane’s body.
The case has stirred an uproar in the country, with many Moroccans calling for the killer to be put to death for his crimes. One petition calling for his execution aims to gather one million signatures.
As is the case in many countries, the death penalty is a subject of debate in Morocco. Some Moroccans see no other way to punish confessed pedophiles and murderers, while others believe executing perpetrators of heinous crimes does nothing to attack the root of the problem.
Human rights activists around the world often adopt a firm position against the death penalty, arguing that every living person has an inalienable right to live, regardless of the crime they have committed.
Arguments against the death penalty in Morocco take on similar themes. Ahmed Assid, a controversial Moroccan activist, stated that Moroccans who are calling for the death of Adnane’s killer are “just as brutal as the killer himself.”
Sheikh Omar Al Kazabri, however, has come to the defense of those who support the death penalty to punish Adnane’s killer.
“My heart is broken in pain over the killing of the child Adnane,” the imam wrote on his official Facebook account. “There is no word in the dictionary that describes the severity of these heinous acts.”
After lamenting the loss of the child, Al Kazabri turned to the death penalty debate, condemning those who do not think Adnane’s killer does not deserve this punishment for his crimes.
“It is astonishing for those who [use] the cover of human rights to try to defend criminals,” he remarked.
Sheikh Omar Al Kazabri argued that the principles of justice in Islam supports the concept known as “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” The expression refers to the belief that the punishment for a crime should match the offense.
In the case of Adnane, execution is a fitting punishment for murder.
The imam criticized those who reject this principle of justice in Islam, arguing this position is also a rejection of the Prophet Muhammad.
Islam calls for punishment befitting to the crime in question, Al Kazabri underlined, saying that those who are advocating for the rights of Adnane’s killer are ignoring conceptions of justice in the Quran.
He called upon Moroccans to use this horrific case as an opportunity to self-reflect and rally around virtues, morals, and goodness. He stressed that Morocco must not lose sight of its consciousness and values in these times of darkness.
