HRW criticizes Morocco for overturning landmark marital rape conviction

Morocco's Court of Cassation has overturned the country's first-ever conviction for marital rape, referring the case back to the Tangiers Appeals Court for review. The landmark 2019 ruling, which had sentenced the husband to two years in prison for raping his wife.

The case began in 2018 when a young woman from Larache filed a complaint with the judicial police, alleging violence and rape by her husband. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized the Cassation Court's decision in a statement published Thursday, October 24, by its Associate Director and Middle East and North Africa Division Hanan Salah. She wrote that Morocco «effectively annulled a critical legal precedent criminalizing marital rape, setting back the clock on advancing women's rights in Morocco».

Morocco's penal code does not explicitly criminalize marital rape, and the 2018 law on violence against women does not specifically address sexual violence within marriage.

In this context, Human Rights Watch called for urgent legal reforms in Morocco to explicitly criminalize sexual assault within marriage, including marital rape.