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Marrakech – The Rabat prosecutor’s office has decided to prosecute feminist activist Ibtissam Lachgar in detention. She was presented to the public prosecutor on Tuesday, following her arrest by the National Brigade of Judicial Police (BNPJ) on Sunday.
Lachgar, also known as “Betty” on social media, was arrested after posting a photo of herself wearing a t-shirt with inscriptions deemed offensive to divinity. The image showed her wearing a shirt with “Allah” followed by “is lesbian” – a play on a well-known feminist slogan, according to her explanation.
The controversial post was accompanied by text describing Islam as “fascist, phallocratic and misogynistic.” This publication sparked outrage online, with many users calling for her arrest.
The 50-year-old activist is a prominent figure in Morocco’s fight for individual liberties. A clinical psychologist and psychotherapist specializing in criminology, she co-founded the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties (MALI), advocating for issues including reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and secularism.
Former Justice Minister El Mostapha Ramid strongly condemned Lachgar’s publication. In a Facebook post, he described it as “a premeditated act” and “an intentional offense to divinity.” Ramid stated that while he doesn’t support excessive censorship, “when it comes to attacking sacred religious symbols deliberately and in a planned manner, no tolerance is possible.”
The former PJD minister referenced Article 267.5 of the Penal Code, which punishes attacks on constitutional religious constants. He argued that if Lachgar’s statements are proven, “they do not constitute a simple opinion or ideological divergence, but an intentional insult toward God, which requires judicial prosecution.”
The Moroccan penal code prescribes six months to two years in prison and/or a fine of MAD 20,000 to 200,000 ($2,000 to $20,000) for any attack on the Islamic religion. Penalties can increase to five years if the “outrage” is committed through public means, including electronic platforms.
Before her arrest, Lachgar had reported experiencing severe online harassment. On Facebook, she claimed to have received “thousands of threats of rape, death, calls for lynching and stoning” following her post.
Even in Europe, her views are considered ‘hyperprogressive’
Some observers have mixed opinions about her approach. Moroccan journalist Nora Fouari commented that “provocation must be intelligent, well-studied, and appropriate for its context, not merely for appearance or attention-seeking.”
She questioned the visibility of LGBTQ+ individuals on TikTok and Instagram, asking, “Who’s actually talking to them?” Fouari noted that despite years of MALI’s “struggle” for liberties using these methods, they have achieved little progress, pleasing neither the state nor society, nor even international organizations.
She argued that Morocco is gradually moving toward more individual freedoms at its own pace to maintain balance, adding, “You didn’t need to stir up a hornet’s nest.”
Others defend Lachgar’s approach, arguing that provocation indeed requires consciousness, not impulsiveness. They contend that LGBTQ+ individuals aren’t prominent on TikTok and Instagram seeking attention, but because they are marginalized, criminalized, and persecuted, with their voice being their only means of survival.
These supporters claim that while some say movements like MALI “haven’t achieved anything,” they have at least stirred stagnant waters and broken the wall of silence. They assert that Morocco is indeed moving toward expanding individual freedoms, but not through silence and obedience – rather through courage and confrontation.
Meanwhile, critics argue that “the madness” of the left and extreme feminism doesn’t yield results in Moroccan soil. For them, it produces adverse effects and has given the Brotherhood, Salafists, jihadist networks, and other ultra-conservative currents a free goal against Moroccan modernity and rational, balanced modernists.
Moroccan-Swiss NZZ columnist Kacem El Ghazzali noted in his analysis that Lachgar belongs to a privileged class of activists who typically avoid arrest despite being critical. He described her as “a visionary who brings ideas from a possible future into the present,” adding that even in Europe, her views are considered “hyperprogressive.”
El Ghazzali pointed out that Lachgar has alienated potential supporters in the West: feminists, due to her gender-critical positions; conservatives, despite her Islam-critical statements, because of her stance on abortion and her criticism of all religions; and liberal secularists in Morocco, who sympathize but cannot publicly support her because “Lachgar’s notions of freedom far exceed existing fantasies.”
The legal proceedings continue as public opinion remains divided between defenders of freedom of expression and advocates for strict law enforcement to preserve religious values.
