Morocco: Court Uphold ‘Homosexuality’ Charges Against 6 Men
By Staff Writer
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Morocco on Monday July 7 to stop prosecuting and jailing people for their sexual orientation, after an appeals court on July 2 2014 upheld the convictions of six men accused of homosexual acts.
At least four of the six defendants in the case were convicted in May 12 on charges that included “lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex,” under penal code article 489.
According to HRV, the convictions were upheld based on statements made while in custody, which defendants say they were threatened into making.
Besides charges that discriminate based on sexual orientation, the court called no witnesses and reviewed no evidence during the appeal raising fair trial concerns, HRW said.
“All six repudiated those statements at the trial, saying that they had signed them after being threatened by police, “said Ms Hadda Maidar aon of the defence lawyer. “The court called no witnesses and reviewed no other evidence, and all of the defendants denied in court that they were homosexual.”
“Moroccan authorities should stop prosecuting and jailing people for their intimate behavior with other consenting adults,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at HRW. “Whatever the sexual orientation of these six defendants, they shouldn’t face criminal penalties because of it.”
Despite its liberal reputation compared with other parts of the Arab world, Morocco remains a conservative Muslim country whose government is led by a moderate Islamist party and where gay sex is illegal, punishable by a maximum three years in prison.
In May, the court in Faqih Bensalah, south of Rabat, handed prison sentences ranging from one to three years to six defendants accused among other things of homosexual acts, and ordered their expulsion from the town once after their jail terms.
In July 2 ruling, the appeals court in Beni Mellal shortened the prison terms of two defendants, converted the others to suspended sentences and scrapped the banishment orders, HRW said.
But the New York-based group said the charges on which they were convicted, which included "lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex," amounted to a form of discrimination that contradicted the preamble of Morocco's new constitution, introduced by the king in 2011.
Police arrested the men in April in Fqih Bensalah, a small inland city 200 kilometers south of Rabat.
Two defendants were sentenced to prison time in the Rural Prison of Fqih Bensalah.
One of the defendants told the court that, while intoxicated, he allowed into his car a person he believed to be a woman but whom, in fact, was a man, Maidar told HRW. Except for this admission, the defendants maintained their innocence to all of the charges.
HRW said whether or not the other charges in this case have merit, and whether or not the men received a fair trial, the Moroccan government should stop prosecuting people for homosexuality.
Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Morocco with punishments ranging from six months to three years imprisonment and a fine of 120 to 1200 dirhams (£19-£194).
In 2007, a court in the northern city of Ksar el-Kbir sentenced six men to prison under article 489. The police arrested them after a video appeared on YouTube purporting to show a private party, at which the defendants were allegedly present, that the media described as a “gay wedding.”
Criminalizing consensual, adult homosexual conduct violates fundamental human rights protected under international law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Morocco ratified in 1979, prohibits interference with the right to privacy.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has condemned laws against consensual homosexual conduct as violations of the ICCPR. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has held that arrests for consensual homosexual conduct are, by definition, human rights violations.
Morocco’s 2011 constitution, in its preamble, states that Morocco “commits to banning and combating all discrimination toward anyone, because of gender, color, beliefs, culture, social or regional origin, language, handicap, or whatever personal circumstance.”
“If Morocco aspires to be a regional leader on human rights, it should take the step of abolishing its laws that discriminate against private activity between consenting adults because they are of the same sex,” said Whitson.
Gay issues in Africa in the recent years have generated mixed reactions with countries such as South Africa legalizing same sex marriages, while Uganda criminalize it in the recent controversial Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014,with the death penalty proposal dropped in favour of life in prison.
In Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, and Rwanda, same-sex sexual activities between adults have never been criminalized.