Rabat – The primary court in Agadir on Monday issued its ruling in the defamation case against university professor Ahmed Qilich, who is currently held in pre-trial detention at Oudaya prison in Marrakech.
Qilich was facing charges brought by a fellow professor at the Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences at Ibn Zohr University, following a complaint filed in 2022.
The colleague, head of the private law department, accused him of defamation and insult during an official meeting, after she refused to endorse his master’s program file, citing administrative irregularities.
In its verdict on the criminal charges, the court acquitted Qilich of the offenses of issuing threats and insulting public officials. But it found him guilty of defaming a woman based on her gender and ordered him to pay a fine of MAD 50,000, in addition to covering court costs and minimum enforcement fees.
On the civil side, the court ruled that Qilich must also pay symbolic damages of one dirham to the plaintiff while rejecting the rest of her civil claims.
This ruling comes as Qilich remains in detention pending trial in a separate and highly publicized case involving allegations of selling master’s degrees and certificates for money—a scandal that has sparked widespread debate in academic and public circles.
The detention order in the second case was issued by the investigating judge for financial crimes at the Marrakech Court of Appeals, following an investigation by the National Judicial Police Brigade.
According to reports, several other individuals are also involved in the case and have appeared before the King’s Attorney General at the same court.
This is not the first time such a university scandal has made headlines in Morocco.
The incident brings to the surface the “Sex for Grades” scandal from 2022. In this case, several Hassan I University professors were arrested in Settat, found guilty of sexually harassing female students in exchange for academic incentives.
