Editor’s Note: Moroccan activists are protesting after a 16-year-old girl committed suicide by swallowing rat poison over the weekend after she was forced to marry a man who raped her last year. Morocco’s laws allow for the “kidnapper” of a minor to marry his victim. The victim’s families, hoping to avoid scandal, often support this practice while the rapist escapes justice.
RABAT, Morocco — The case of a 16-year-old girl who killed herself after she was forced to marry her rapist has spurred outrage among Morocco’s internet activists and calls for changes to the country’s laws.
An online petition, a Facebook page and countless tweets expressed horror over the suicide of Amina Filali, who swallowed rat poison on Saturday to protest her marriage to the man who raped her a year earlier.
Article 475 of the Moroccan penal code allows for the “kidnapper” of a minor to marry his victim to escape prosecution, and it has been used to justify a traditional practice of making a rapist marry his victim to preserve the honor of the woman’s family.
“Amina, 16, was triply violated, by her rapist, by tradition and by Article 475 of the Moroccan law,” tweeted activist Abadila Maaelaynine.
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