فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
The Moroccan Court of Cassation issued a controversial decision on October 10, 2024, overturning the country’s first-ever judicial ruling condemning marital rape, which had been issued by the Tangier Court of Appeal in 2019.
The Tangier Court of Appeal had convicted a husband of “marital rape” and “serious physical assault” against his wife in a historic legal precedent. The wife had provided the court with medical evidence proving she had suffered serious injuries that corroborated her allegations.
The decision by the Court of Cassation, the highest judicial authority in the country, came on procedural grounds amid the absence of a clear legal framework criminalizing marital rape. Although Law 103-13 on combating violence against women, enacted in 2018, strengthened penalties for assaults, it did not explicitly address the issue of marital rape.
This ruling has sparked widespread condemnation among women’s rights defenders and feminist associations. Fouzia Yassine, a member of the executive board of the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women, expressed her disappointment at the reversal of this historic conviction, adding: “We are standing still and not moving forward.”
Women’s rights and human rights associations considered this decision a setback in the path of protecting women’s rights, calling for the need to address the legal vacuum regarding the explicit criminalization of marital rape in Moroccan law.
