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Rabat – Abdelilah Benkirane, the Secretary-General of the Justice and Development Party, has launched a scathing attack on Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi regarding his views on reforming the Moroccan Family Code, known as Moudawana.
In a Facebook live Thursday night, Benkirane said that “the statements he [Ouahbi] made since 2022, notably those regarding consensual relationships, were reckless, unreasonable, inappropriate, and unacceptable in Moroccan society.”
Benkirane’s remarks came after Ouahbi urged parliamentarians with modernist inclinations to accelerate the pace of work to amend the expected changes in the Family Code “before another party takes us backwards.”
Ouahbi made the call during a session discussing the Civil Procedure Code bill in the House of Representatives last Tuesday.
“We were surprised and saddened by the level we have reached,” Benkirane said in response to the justice minister’s comments, recalling Ouahbi’s role as a minister in the “King’s government” and a member of the committee tasked with reviewing the Family Law, the proceedings of which are supposed to be confidential.
During the live video, Benkirane accused Ouahbi of disclosing confidential information and bypassing the process of submitting the draft law to King Mohammed VI. He accused Ouahbi of exceeding his authority and undermining the confidentiality of the process.
Regarding the stages of preparation for amending the family code, Benkirane praised the committee’s seriousness and intensive work. However, he argued that there is a deviation from the natural framework due to Morocco being an Islamic state, emphasizing the supremacy of the Quran in the country’s legal references.
Benkirane stressed that any attempt to undermine Islam or the Quran is equivalent to opening the door to unrest.
In September 2023, King Mohammed VI tasked the government with the responsibility of reviewing the family code, which was last updated in 2004.
The amendments that some Moroccan NGOs and activists have demanded include the abolition of polygamy and underage marriage, as well as ensuring equal inheritance rights between genders.
