A Moroccan blogger was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for “undermining the Muslim religion” after posting posts on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam, her brother announced Tuesday.
Fatema Karim, 39, was questioned by police on July 15 and has been in detention ever since, Bouazza Karim said. She was tried for having satirically commented, in Arabic on her Facebook page, on verses from the Koran and hadiths of the Prophet Mohammed, considered sacred in the Muslim tradition.
“This verdict is very severe”
The blogger, who intends to appeal, invoked before the judge her right to freedom of expression, guaranteed by the Moroccan Constitution, her brother added.
He also publicly apologized to “anyone who felt offended” by his posts, saying he never intended to undermine Islam, the state religion in Morocco.
The prison sentence was pronounced on Monday by the court of first instance in Oued Zem, 150 km from Casablanca. “This verdict is very severe. It takes us back years,” lamented Bouazza Karim.
The process was initiated by the prosecution. Article 267-5 of the Moroccan Penal Code, under which Fatima Karim was convicted, punishes “anyone who undermines the Muslim religion” with six months to two years in prison.
A precedent in June 2021
The sentence is likely to increase to five years in prison if the crime is committed in public, “including by electronic means”. The same article 267 severely punishes any “attack on the monarchical regime” and any “incitement to undermine the territorial integrity” of the kingdom.
Human rights defenders denounce this text of the law that violates freedom of expression and whose wording “does not specifically specify the facts that may constitute an attack.”
In June 2021, an Italian-Moroccan woman was sentenced to three and a half years in prison by Moroccan courts for “attacking the Muslim religion” after posting satirical phrases imitating verses from the Koran on Facebook. The young woman was released shortly after, and her sentence was reduced on appeal to a suspended sentence of two months in prison, following a protest campaign by human rights defenders.
Source: BFM TV
