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Rabat – The judicial police in Beni Mellal, a city 305 kilometers from Rabat, have arrested a suspect for the rape of a 16-year old girl.
The suspect, who already has a criminal record, raped the victim on the rooftop of the building where she lives with her mother.
The General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) announced the arrest of the suspect on Wednesday, August 28. The police arrested the suspect after the victim reported the incident, police said in a statement.
The suspect threatened the victim with a knife before carrying out the sexual assault.
The suspect will remain in police custody, while the investigation into the incident continues.
Both the victim and her mother appear in several online videos, recounting the ordeal.
“I was sleeping when [my mother] woke me up to go to bring bread for breakfast. When I was heading to the bakery, two people suddenly showed up with a motorcycle. I distanced me from them,” she said.
The victim added that when she was going back to her house, one of the motorcycle riders stopped her.
“I told him that I don’t know him. He kept following me and calling to come back.”
Once she entered the building, the suspect grabbed her and took her to the rooftop.
“I begged him to let me go, I told him that he has sisters that you don’t want to see them harmed,” the victim said.
She also told him “how long she has been protecting her honor [virginity] are you going to just ruin that for me?”
In Morocco and other Muslim countries, virginity is associated with honor for women.
The honor code remains a common concept transmitted from one generation to another in Morocco, especially in rural areas.
The victim said that the suspect filmed her when he finished raping her when I was “covered with blood.”
In tears, and with a shaky voice, the victim’s mother condemned the assault.
“My only daughter was raped (…) I am calling on authorities to intervene to arrest the rapist.”
The incident followed a similar rape case of Hanane, a woman in Rabat, who was violently raped by a man with a significant criminal record. Hanane sadly died as a result of the injuries she sustained during the assault.
Police arrested the main suspect in addition to eight other suspects involved in the crime. The suspects also filmed the rape, which sparked widespread outrage among Moroccan internet users.
