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Rabat – Morocco’s opposition Justice and Development Party (PJD) has accused Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi of trying to provoke sedition with his announcement that the country’s Penal Code is in need of reforms.
PJD issued its press release on Monday, saying that it strongly condemns Ouhabi’s attempts to “stir sedition” by adopting “trends” that are against “Islamic and national constants.”
The statement came in response to Ouahbi’s recent announcement pledging to reform Morocco’s Penal Code.
Speaking of the potential reforms, Ouhabi told Moroccan news outlet Le360 earlier this week that the draft text for the new Penal Code is “ready and can be presented to the parliament.”
“Regarding sensitive points of this code, such as the possibility of granting more individual freedoms, mutually consensual sexual relations outside marriage, and shared guardianship of children, among others, it is necessary that all the answers to these questions obtain green light from the government, religious, and parliamentary authorities,” he explained.
Article 490 of Morocco’s current Penal Code prohibits sexual relations outside of marriage; the article also provides for a prison term of between one and two years for adultery.
Several activists and campaigns have over the years called on the government to normalize sex outside marriage.
“Moroccan Outlaws” is perhaps the most prominent of the movements that have launched campaigns urging the government to reform the Penal Code by ridding the document of the article that criminalizes sexual relations outside marriage.
But for the PJD, such demands are un-Moroccan, stand against Sharia (Islamic law) and the country’s principles, and only seek to create sedition.
“Any reforms or review of the provisions of this law should take place within the framework of Islamic reference and national consensus, given that this concerns the foundations regulating the stability and cohesion of the state and society and the security of family and social relations,” stressed the press release from the Islamist, a former ruling party.
In addition to sex outside marriage, PJD also emphasized that it rejects any move that seeks to decriminalize abortion.
Over the years, many activists have been calling on the government to allow abortion as a legal right to avoid challenges such as unsafe abortion.
This demand was given new vigor in September of last year after a 14-year-old girl lost her life due to unsafe abortion.
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Article 453 of the Moroccan penal code criminalizes abortion, except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk. In its press release, the PJD warned the government of any attempts to reform Articles 490 and 451 without involving opposition parties and civil society actors.
