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Rabat – The Central Director of Morocco’s Judicial Police Mohamed Dkhissi has responded to the controversy surrounding a video allegedly featuring lawyer and politician Mohammed Ziane and a suspended policewoman.
The video, which went viral on social networks, appears to show a naked Ziane with the former police officer, W.K.
Article 490 of Morocco’s penal code stipulates that sexual relations between unmarried individuals are punishable by imprisonment for one month to one year.
Some Moroccans took to social networks, claiming that security services did not take the necessary measures against Ziane and W.K. after the video emerged of their alleged relations.
Others, however, claimed Morocco did not take legal action to see whether the video was accurate or not.
Ziane accused the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST) of leaking the video to harm his reputation.
Dkhissi denied inaction from security services regarding the video. He said the prosecution ordered the judicial police to carry out a detailed investigation and to take all legal proceedings in this regard.
The security official also condemned Ziane’s allegation that the DGST is responsible for its dissemination, echoing the Ministry of the Interior’s statement last week denouncing insults to national security institutions.
Dkhissi said the DGSN has filed a complaint “against all persons with links to this issue.”
He acknowledged that the right to criticism is guaranteed in Morocco, provided that it is objective and that the whole truth is told, but said it is unacceptable to give “free rein to defamation and insults, fueled by hatred against constitutional institutions.”
The woman allegedly in the video, W.K., is a former policewoman with a controversial record who was eventually suspended from her duties.
She joined the national security force in 2003. In 2016, she filed a complaint against the head of prefectural security Aziz Bomehdi and several other police officers. She also accused a neighbor of sexual harassment and attempted rape.
Dkhissi said that all allegations of sexual harassment the suspended police officer filed proceeded through all judicial phases.
He also stressed that she received several warnings due to her violations of disciplinary rules, notably after she assaulted a colleague on a mission in the Azemmour police district in 2014.
The video allegedly showing Ziane and W.K. in an inappropriate setting has gone viral on social networks.
Ziane claimed the DGST leaked the video in a plot to ruin his reputation, an allegation that Moroccan institutions rejected.
On December 3, the Ministry of the Interior defended Morocco’s national security institutions, describing Ziane’s claims as “irresponsible statements.”
“The false statements are tantamount to an outright defamation, a clear prejudice to the personal consideration of its employees, and an insult to an organized body,” the statement continued.
The ministry said it reserves the right to take legal action against the “malicious allegations.”
