Moroccan Association Demands Stringent Laws for Child Rapists

Nawal Filali, founder of the Aji Nt3awnou Association, told MWN that the petition demands maximum sentences, chemical castration, death penalty, and the removal of any mitigating circumstances for child sexual assaults.

Rabat – The Moroccan association “Yallah Nt3awnou” has launched a national petition calling on the Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, and Parliament to impose harsher penalties for rape and sexual assault against children, including the death penalty for repeat offenders.

The association also warns that the country’s legal framework fails to protect its most vulnerable citizens and demands immediate reform.

This comes after a 13-year-old boy suffered a violent gang rape during the annual Moulay Abdellah Amghar festival in El Jadida province. The boy, Bachir, fell prey to 14 men who drugged him and raped him repeatedly over several days.

The rape sparked an unprecedented surge of outrage throughout Morocco, with citizens taking to social media in large numbers using the hashtag #AllForBachir.

In the petition, the association wrote, “We address you not as statistics or court files, but as the voices of thousands of Moroccan children who face daily the worst forms of assault: rape, sexual assault, and exploitation. Innocent children are violated, their childhood trampled, their innocence killed, while society stands powerless and the law remains lenient.”

 

The petition also points to the devastating personal impact of these heinous crimes. 

“How many children are raped and live the rest of their lives psychologically destroyed, unable to study or integrate into society? How many young girls and boys become lifeless bodies after being attacked by a human monster whom Moroccan law fails to deter? How many offenders leave prison after a few years only to assault another victim?” the petition also read.

The initiative demands immediate legal reforms, including maximum sentences for child sexual assaults in all their forms, mandatory chemical castration for offenders, and the removal of any mitigating circumstances. 

It also calls for compulsory judicial follow-up even if families withdraw complaints due to fear, poverty, or pressure, and the establishment of a national fund to provide psychological and social support to victims and their families.

A national registry of sexual offenders is also proposed to prevent convicted individuals from accessing or working with children. “Moroccan children are not toys in the hands of criminals,” the petition further states. 

“A society that does not protect its youth is doomed to collapse. We write these words with our blood boiling and our hearts burning with anger and sorrow, because every day we see innocent children assaulted and their lives erased, while perpetrators receive light sentences as if they had not committed slow murder of body and soul.”

The petition concludes with a stark warning to lawmakers: “History will not forgive. The people will not forgive. The children whose childhood is stolen today will grow up tomorrow and ask you: Where were you? Why did you not protect us?”

‘Weak laws cannot protect our children’ – association founder speaks out

Speaking to Morocco World News (MWN), Nawal Filali, director and founder of the Aji Nt3awnou Association, described her frustration with what she sees as Morocco’s inadequate legal response to crimes against children.

“For the past six years, I have seen how in Moroccan society the laws applied to perpetrators of these crimes are far too lenient and insufficient,” she said. “They do not bring justice to the victims.”

Filali spoke not only as an activist but also as a mother. “God forbid I ever experience this with my kids,” she told MWN. “But if something like this were to happen, I could never accept such weak laws. It must be very hard for mothers to cope. These are the questions I ask myself when I think about the case of the young teenager, Bachir, who was raped by 14 adults. The thought that these criminals could return to a normal life frightens me.”

She questioned whether light sentences prevent repeat assaults. “If they receive sentences of only two years or even six months, won’t these perpetrators repeat the same crimes? What kind of society will we have then? A society where sick people walk free, while children are left without protection, without parents to care for them, without the love and mercy they need.”

For Filali, civil society has a duty to stand in for the voiceless. “Civil society is about speaking out for the children, talking to them, representing them. We are part of this society, and we must act as its force,” she said.

She added that while some cases of assault have drawn national attention, many more remain hidden. “Thank God, there are many cases of assault in our country that have reached public attention, but behind them stand many more cases we never hear about,” she explained. 

Her search for possible solutions led her to measures adopted abroad. “I discovered that many countries use measures such as chemical castration,” she said. 

“This means administering a dose that reduces the sexual hormones of the offender, lowering their fertility and sexual drive. In some countries, punishment can even extend to the death penalty. In Morocco, however, there is no death penalty, and sentences are often short – 20 years, 30 years, or sometimes even less. But for such crimes, even 20 years is not enough.”

She posed a stark question: “What punishment is enough for crimes against a one-year-old child? What punishment is enough for a 13-year-old girl assaulted by an adult man? Even when sentences of 20 years are handed down, they are often reduced or shared among several perpetrators. This is unacceptable, and it is a shame.”

Filali believes that solutions must also begin with education. “Children must feel safe in schools,” she said, recalling awareness programs abroad where teachers educate children on boundaries and how to seek help. “In Morocco, we also need to educate our children, no taboos involved.”

She acknowledged that child sexual assault is not unique to Morocco but insisted that the country must take responsibility. “This problem exists everywhere. But we must assume our role and act,” Filali added.

That conviction led her to launch the petition. “Through people’s signatures, we hope to pressure officials to act and ensure that perpetrators receive the punishment they truly deserve,” she told MWN. 

“In just three days, the petition gathered around 1,600 signatures, and I believe it will continue to grow.”

Morocco cannot afford to look away

The petition comes at a time when Morocco has been shaken by multiple high-profile child sexual assault cases, sparking public outrage and renewed calls for stricter punishments, including capital punishment, a measure that exists in the penal code but has rarely been enforced in recent years.

Bachir’s rape case is not isolated. Other incidents have deeply affected Moroccans, including a recent scandal at Ifrane’s Ras al-Maa summer camp. During the fourth phase of Morocco’s National Camping Program, authorities arrested two camp supervisors following allegations that one had sexually assaulted a child. 

The case unfolded at the camp’s “Sais Space” section, after officials discovered inappropriate conduct by a 28-year-old supervisor toward a 13-year-old child.

Cases of child sexual assault occur every single day, yet most remain hidden, unheard, and unreported. Behind closed doors, countless children suffer in silence while society and the law often turn a blind eye. 

This relentless, invisible tragedy cannot continue; the status quo is unacceptable, and urgent change is needed to protect the most vulnerable and hold perpetrators fully accountable.

Source: moroccoworldnews.com, Firdaous Naim, August 26, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde