Rabat – Morocco’s Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi has expressed his shock and condemnation of the verdict in the Tiflet child rape case, pointing out lapses in the Moroccan criminal law which result in shockingly lenient sentences for heinous crimes.
The verdict in question refers to a two-year prison sentence a judge issued on March 20 for three male adults found guilty of repeatedly gang-raping and impregnating an 11-year-old child in Tiflet, in northwestern Morocco.
Speaking during an event organized on Tuesday by the Center for Public Debate and Contemporary Studies in Rabat, Ouahbi insinuated that the Tiflet rape case calls for reform in Moroccan criminal law to once and for all address its successive pitfalls.
Following the Tiflet incident, “we said we will go back to this text [about child rape] …Should we remove mitigating circumstances? Should we set precise texts?” the minister asked, expressing his frustration with the light sentence that the rapists have received.
“Each time something happens in Morocco, it takes me back to the criminal law … making me wonder whether there is a way out, a slip, or a distortion that can happen again tomorrow,” he added
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The rape incident dates back to 2021, and the victim is currently 13 years old and a mother to a one-year-old toddler, whose DNA test confirmed one of the three rapists as the father.
The shocking incident, coupled with the short prison sentence the judge granted, has triggered widespread criticism and outrage among Moroccans and human rights organizations.
Under Moroccan law, the crime of raping a minor under 18 is penalized with 10 to 18 years in prison. However, courts can rule otherwise and issue a lesser sentence in case of mitigating circumstances.
The Court of Rabat justified the light sentence handed to the three men involved in the case, saying that the judge deemed the 10-18 years prison sentence “too severe” for this particular crime.
The appeal trial for the Tiflet rape case will take place on Thursday, April 13 at the Rabat Court of Appeal.
