Rabat – Morocco’s Court of First Instance in Settat near Casablanca has sentenced two professors from the Hassan I University to a total of two and a half years in prison for sexually extorting female students in return for giving them good grades.
The court sentenced two out of four professors for their involvement in the “sex for grades” scandal on Tuesday and acquitted the others.
The Court sentenced Professor “Mohamed. Kh” to one and a half years in prison and fined him MAD 7,000 ($721), while professor “Abderrahman. M” received a one-year sentence and a fine of MAD 5,000 ($515).
The court also demanded professor “Abderrahman .M” to pay compensation of MAD 60,000 ($6,185) to his victims “Nadia. Kh” and “Khadija. Kh”.
The court acquitted the two other professors, ‘Mohamed. B’ and ‘Khalid. S’
Prior to the trial, lawyer Rachid Naanaai, who defended the professors, stated that the public opinion judged the defendants based on the media uproar before the verdict was even issued.
Similar cases
Since the “sex for grades” scandal became public a number of similar cases have also come to light.
The Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Settat on Monday, March 21 found another university professor guilty of sexually assaulting a female student
A professor from the Hassan I University in Settat was sentenced to two years in prison for similar charges in January this year.
Another “sex for grades” scandal took place at Morocco’s National School of Business and Management (ENCG) in Oujda at the end of last year.
Police also arrested a teacher last week after a high school student accused him of sexually harassing her in Tetouan.
The scandals provoked outrage among Moroccans and women’s rights activists, many of whom showed solidarity with the victims.
