Amnesty International has condemned a Moroccan court’s decision to put two women who were wearing dresses on trial for indecent exposure as “part of a pattern of discriminatory laws” in the kingdom.
The women, aged 23 and 29, were arrested in the southern city of Agadir in mid-June after walking around a market in outfits deemed to be provocative by passersby. In the police report, the women, both hairdressers, were said to have been wearing clothes that were “too tight”.
Liz McKean, the director for women’s human rights at Amnesty International UK, said on Tuesday: “It’s not the clothing that’s flimsy here, it’s the legal case against these two young women. The case has all the hallmarks of a discriminatory use of the law against women, part of a pattern of discriminatory laws and practices in Morocco.
“The only sensible thing here would be for the case to be dropped and police officers in Morocco instructed not to make arrests in cases like these in the future.
“Meanwhile, the authorities need to set about amending a whole range of highly discriminatory laws including on rape, abortion, divorce and child custody.”
Protests are to be held later this week in Agadir and in Morocco’s commercial capital, Casablanca, in support of the women, who have been backed byhundreds of lawyers.
Fouzia Assouli, the head of women’s rights organisation LDDF, said: “Five hundred lawyers registered to defend the two women, but because of restricted space in the courtroom, only 200 were able to attend.”
She said the lawyers took turns to put forward arguments at Monday’s hearing in Agadir. One, Sibai Bakar, said the trial was a “chance for our country to amend its laws to conform with its commitments to human rights and especially individual freedoms”.
Article 483 of Morocco’s penal code states that anyone found guilty of committing an act of “public obscenity” such as “gross indecency” can be jailed for between a month and two years.
Agadir is popular with Europeans who mainly visit the city for its miles of beaches and warm climate, usually on cheap package deals. Tourism is a key industry for Morocco but the Muslim kingdom is polarised on many issues between liberals and conservatives who have called for “morality” to be respected
Last month, a concert by Jennifer Lopez in Rabat broadcast on public television provoked anger among conservatives and criticism in local media that Lopez was scantily dressed.
In another example of the continued strength of conservative attitudes within the kingdom, two Moroccan gay men were last month sentenced in jail after they were arrested for standing too close to one another as they posed for a photograph in front of a historic site, also in Rabat.
