Rabat – The Court of Appeals in Beni Mellal sentenced on Tuesday, September 22, 14 sexual offenders for their involvement in the rape and kidnapping of Khadija, a then 17-year-old girl in Oulad Ayad, a small town near Beni Mellal in central Morocco.
In 2018, Khadija’s case made headlines in Morocco and worldwide after 14 men kidnapped, raped, tortured, and tattooed her.
After three years of legal proceedings in a case that shocked Moroccans around the world, the Beni Mellal Court of Appeals sentenced 14 perpetrators to a combined 226 years in prison.
The court sentenced 11 of the sexual offenders to 20 years imprisonment each.
A minor suspect among the 14 was sentenced to three years in prison; one suspect was sentenced to one year in prison, while another received one year of suspended imprisonment.
After spending three horrendous days in the hands of her kidnappers, Khadija appeared in several interviews to speak about the “nightmare” she went through.
She said that she was at her aunt’s house when she was kidnapped. And that she tried to escape several times, only to end up being tortured even more for attempting to escape.
“They didn’t give me food or drink, and I was not allowed to take a shower,” she said.
Khadija’s case stirred up outrage and controversy among Moroccan activists and the society at large.
Following the incident, many activists called for reforming Morocco’s criminal code on the question of sexual predation and related criminal offenses.
“We call on the concerned parties to tighten the penalties for the perpetrators of these serious crimes, and to take care of the psychological health of the victim,” feminist and activist Bouchra Abdou told MWN in a previous interview about the worrying laxity surrounding sexual misconduct and rape cases in Morocco.
