Rabat – The First Instance Criminal Chamber in Fez has announced a prison sentence of five years against former member of parliament Rachid El Fayek for his involvement in the rape and sexual assault of a minor girl.
The former member of the Rally of Independents will also pay a fine of MAD 80,000 ($8,228), according to Monday’s verdict.
The court found El Fayek guilty of raping a minor with a mental disability in 2020. The case was brought to light by the victim, who posted a video accusing the former MP of raping her in one of his apartments.
In addition to Monday’s court ruling, El Fayek has been also found guilty of corruption crimes and the embezzlement of public funds in 2022.
In June, the Criminal Appeal Chamber increased the former MP’s sentence from 6 to 8 years. He is one of the 16 people who were found guilty for bribery, embezzlement of public funds, illegal collection of interest, and forgery of official papers.
El Fayek and his accomplices’ case emerged in September 2020, when the National Brigade of the Judicial Police in Fez unveiled their involvement in numerous criminal acts.
The court’s sentence on minor rape might spark more uproar among rights groups and activists, who have been condemning light sentences against rapists.
In March, Moroccan citizens, and activists signed a petition after signing a petition to condemn the light prison sentences handed to three defendants involved in raping a 11-year-old girl in Tiflet, a town in northwestern Morocco.
Moroccan author Yassmine Chami launched the petition, describing the sentence as a “despicable” judgment.
“Outraged by the despicable judgment, which sentences criminals who raped one of our eleven-year-old children to only two years in prison,” the petition reads.
The outrage pushed the court of appeal has increased the prison sentences against the three men who had been found guilty of gang-raping and impregnating Sanae, the minor victim of the Tiflet rape case, to 10 to 20 years in prison.
