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Moroccan girl commits suicide after being forced to marry her rapist

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A 16-year-old Moroccan girl has committed suicide after a judge ordered her to marry her rapist, according to Moroccan media reports.

Last year Amina’s parents filed charges against their daughter’s rapist, a man 10 years older than her but it was only recently that a judge in the northern city of Tangier decided that instead of punishing him, the two must be married.

The court’s decision to forcibly marry Amina to her rapist was supposed to “resolve” the damage of sexual violation against her, but it led to more suffering in the unwelcoming home of her rapist/husband’s family.

Traumatized by the painful experience of rape, Amina decided to end her life by consuming rat poison in the house of her husband’s family, according to the Moroccan daily al-Massae.

According to the newspaper, this type of forced marriage is rooted in local rural traditions to safeguard the honor of girls who are raped.

Moroccan penal code exempts a rapist from punishment if he agrees to marry his victim.

(...)

Story here


UPDATE:

Suicide of Moroccan girl reportedly wed to rapist spurs outrage

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The suicide of a Moroccan teenager who reportedly had been forced to marry her rapist has spurred calls from around the world to change criminal laws long lamented by Moroccan feminists.

Human rights groups complain that Moroccan law has been interpreted to allow someone who rapes a minor to escape punishment if he marries the victim. Moroccan media reported that was what happened to Amina Filali, a 16-year-old who reportedly swallowed rat poison Saturday.

"It is unfortunately a recurring phenomenon," Fouzia Assouli, the president of the Democratic League for Women's Rights, told the Associated Press. "We have been asking for years for the cancellation of Article 475 of the penal code, which allows the rapist to escape justice.”

The Moroccan government has argued that the law applies only if the victim agrees to marry, but activists say young women can be pressured into marriage to protect family honor. Her father told a Moroccan news website that the courts had pushed the idea, the Associated Press reported.

Activists took to Twitter to spread news of the reported suicide using the hashtag #RIPAmina. "The tragedy of Amina is a disgrace to humanity," Emirati political commentator Mishaal Al Gergawi wrote.

The 16-year-old was not legally old enough to marry: Morocco raised the marriage age from 15 to 18 while reforming its family code seven years ago, according to a U.S. government report last year. But many judges did not agree with the law, and some attorneys didn’t know about the reforms.

Moroccan women are seen as better protected than other women in North Africa because of those and other reforms advanced by King Mohammed VI, according to the Social Institutions and Gender Index.

The new Moroccan Constitution sets up the principle of equality between men and women in all spheres. Compared with other countries in the Arab region, Morocco ranks high in female political representation.

Yet Moroccan women still face laws that are lenient toward husbands who harm their wives, unequal inheritances and other inequities, according to reports from human rights groups. Nearly two-thirds of Moroccan women are subjected to violence in their lifetimes, according to a survey last year.

Story here
 

SmokyDave

Member
According to the newspaper, this type of forced marriage is rooted in local rural traditions to safeguard the honor of girls who are raped.
No matter how many times I read stuff like this, I'll never understand it. Seems like every culture that makes a point of 'honour' does it in the most disgraceful way possible.
 
According to the newspaper, this type of forced marriage is rooted in local rural traditions to safeguard the honor of girls who are raped.

Moroccan penal code exempts a rapist from punishment if he agrees to marry his victim.
WHAT THE FUCK?

I mean . . . . WHAT THE FUCK?


This literally turns selecting a wife into a rape competition.
 

Gr1mLock

Passing metallic gas
Wow. Poor girl. Cant even imagine what her parents are going through. This is the kind of shit that happens when you let religion influence government.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
You kidding me?

That is the proper course of action as described in the Bible. They even give the same reasoning.

yeah as far as the bible goes, the girl is 100% in the wrong, she also committed suicide to get out of a hopeless situation in which she was obviously very disturbed and probably massively depressed of being in.


but common sense will dictate that this whole situation is wrong and terrible to have happened. whether or not the bible says anything about it. especially since they're muslim and it has nothing to do with them.
 
Wow. Poor girl. Cant even imagine what her parents are going through. This is the kind of shit that happens when you let religion influence government.

There's nothing in Islam that says this is excusable through a marriage. Under Islamic penal code this guy would be punished harshly. It even says it's their "rural culture" tradition.
 

ShinNL

Member
Fuck off, Morocco laws.

*anger*

Sexists.

You know I really hope this is something that most judges don't enforce cause I really never knew Morocco was that backward.
Most (if not all?) Muslim countries are backwards when it comes to these kind of things.
 

marrec

Banned
There's nothing in Islam that says this is excusable through a marriage. Under Islamic penal code this guy would be punished harshly. It even says it's their "rural culture" tradition.

Moroccan penal code exempts the rapist from punishment if he agrees to marry his victim, so it's a bit more than just a rural tradition.

Assuming she could muster enough witnesses, of course.

Otherwise she's be stoned to death.
 
Moroccan penal code exempts the rapist from punishment if he agrees to marry his victim, so it's a bit more than just a rural tradition.

Well I meant Moroccan penal code=/= Islamic penal code. Each of these countries have stupid ass cultural laws.
 
what has bible to do with this? as far i know most people in morroco are muslims as well...

Islam has many of the same laws as Christianity and Judaism.


but common sense will dictate that this whole situation is wrong and terrible to have happened. whether or not the bible says anything about it. especially since they're muslim and it has nothing to do with them.

Islam is merely an extension of Judaism, much like Christianity. Same god, similar laws, with just a few details changed.

If you want I'll edit my post to say Koran, rather than Bible.
 

Gr1mLock

Passing metallic gas
There's nothing in Islam that says this is excusable through a marriage. Under Islamic penal code this guy would be punished harshly. It even says it's their "rural culture" tradition.

You're right, however its not a stretch to say its a dogmatic approach to governing.
 

Kinyou

Member
I can't even fathom how fucked up that is. How can anyone with a brain in his head think that this kind of justice makes sense?
 

Angry Fork

Member
I refuse to take anyone seriously who thinks countries should be able to violate human rights in this way and defend it because of religious/cultural reasons. This isn't a left/right opinion people need to accept the idea of universal human rights. This story is so disgusting.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
This isn't just a Moroccan thing. Similar things happen in the United States. Rape survivors are forced to live / work / go to school with their rapists all the time. And if rape victims seek their own justice, they're thrown into jail. They're almost entirely disempowered as far as official, legal channels go.

The United States doesn't prioritize rape as a problem.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Wow this article basically just ruined my day.

So fucking sad that travesties like this still exist in the world today. That girl was in a catch-22 situation... I wonder what the husband must be feeling right now. I doubt that bastard even cares... and if he does, fuck you reap what you sow.

Urgh
 

survivor

Banned
I refuse to take anyone seriously who thinks countries should be able to violate human rights in this way and defend it because of religious/cultural reasons. This isn't a left/right opinion people need to accept the idea of universal human rights. This story is so disgusting.

Don't worry, she is not an Afghani boy, no one will defend this.
 

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member
Wow. Poor girl. Cant even imagine what her parents are going through. This is the kind of shit that happens when you let religion influence government.
Not exactly. This is a situation where religion IS the government. There is no boundary at all. To make a change to one of those things is to change both of those things, which is why a lot of people in these countries can't imagine the benefits of a secular government until they see it.
 

daw840

Member
This isn't just a Moroccan thing. Similar things happen in the United States. Rape survivors are forced to live / work / go to school with their rapists all the time. And if rape victims seek their own justice, they're thrown into jail. They're almost entirely disempowered as far as official, legal channels go.

The United States doesn't prioritize rape as a problem.

Uh........wat?
 

SmokyDave

Member
Wow this article basically just ruined my day.

So fucking sad that travesties like this still exist in the world today. That girl was in a catch-22 situation... I wonder what the husband must be feeling right now. I doubt that bastard even cares... and if he does, fuck you reap what you sow.

Urgh

"Fuck cooking my own dinner, I'm off on the rape again", I'd imagine.
 

-viper-

Banned
Sounds more like a Christian Law.

Deuteronomy 22:23-24: 'If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.'

The fuck?
 
You kidding me?

That is the proper course of action as described in the Koran. They even give the same reasoning.
I would just say it's the case for any Abrahamic religion since it's a shared law in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam though I believe you're also supposed to pay the father.
 
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