Nearly a year after Morocco was shocked by the suicide of a 16 year old girl who was forced to marry her alleged rapist, the government has announced plans to change the penal code to outlaw the traditional practice
A paragraph in Article 475 of the penal code allows those convicted of corruption or kidnapping of a minor to go free if they marry their victim. The practice was encouraged by judges to spare family shame.
Women's rights activists on Tuesday Jan 22,2013 welcomed the announcement by the justice minister, Mustapha Ramid, but said it was only a first step in reforming a penal code that does not do enough to stop violence against women
The social development minister, Bassima Hakkaoui, the sole female minister in cabinet, said she would try to get the law passed
Note
In March 2012,16-year-old Amina al-Filali poisoned herself to get out of a seven-month-old abusive marriage to a 23-year-old she said had raped her.
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