Woman threatened with jail over ‘Allah is lesbian' T-shirt
Ibtissame Lachgar, an LGBT rights campaigner, was detained over accusations of blasphemy and could now face several years in prison.
Prosecutors in the north African country confirmed the 50-year-old had been taken into custody while they investigated the photograph, 'which depicts her wearing a shirt with phrases offensive to the divine, along with a caption insulting Islam'.
The activist posted the photograph in late July with a caption saying: 'You tire us with your sanctimoniousness, your accusations. Yes, Islam, like any religious ideology, is FASCIST. PHALLOCRATIC AND MISOGYNISTIC.'
She later said that her post had earned her 'thousands of sexist insults, rape and death threats, calls for murder, stoning etc'.
The T-shirt caused outrage when the photograph was first posted and Ms Lachgar quoted some of her critics.
'Her freedom is an insult to all Moroccans,' said one. 'She alone is an insult to all the martyrs, our ancestors who proudly fought in the path of Allah to make this country what it is today.'
Under the Moroccan penal code, anyone convicted of 'causing harm' to Islam can be imprisoned for up to two years, or given a fine of up to £16,500.
Ms Lachgar is co-founder of the Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms and has repeatedly been arrested during protests.
In Morocco, she is known for organising events such as a 2013 'kiss-in', in support of three teenagers arrested for posting pictures on Facebook of two of them kissing.
A boy and girl, aged 15 and 14, alongside their 15-year-old male friend, had been charged with 'violating public decency' and held in a juvenile centre after posting the photo outside their school in the northern town of Nador.
At the demonstration against creeping conservatism in Moroccan society, activists kissed outside the parliament building in the capital city.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
43 minutes ago
- The Independent
Mali's former prime minister Maiga taken into custody amid corruption probe
Former Malian prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga was taken into custody on Tuesday on accusations of corruption, his lawyer said, as the West African country 's military junta has ramped up arrests of top politicians in recent weeks. Maiga's lawyer, Cheick Oumar Konaré, told The Associated Press the former prime minister was taken in for questioning earlier this month by the National Economic and Financial Unit, which is responsible for fighting corruption, as part of an investigation into allegations of misuse of public property. 'Former Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga has been taken into custody by officers from the brigade of the National Economic and Financial Unit,' Konaré said. 'We are contesting his detention because the former prime minister has no intention of fleeing the country or destroying evidence,' he added. In November 2024, Maïga was dismissed from his role as prime minister, days after he criticized the military regime for postponing elections. Following his dismissal, Maiga continued to criticize the military regime in the media. Earlier this month, another former prime minister, Moussa Mara, was imprisoned after tweeting his support for jailed critics of the ruling military junta. Mali has been ruled by military leaders since a junta seized power in 2020 and staged another coup the following year. In June, the country's leader, Gen. Assimi Goita, was granted an additional five years in power, despite the junta's earlier promises of a return to civilian rule by March 2024. The move followed the military regime's dissolution of political parties in May.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
US imposes sanctions on Congo armed group, mining firms over illicit minerals
Aug 12 (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday announced sanctions against an armed group aligned with Congo's military as well as a Congolese mining company and two Hong Kong-based exporters over armed violence and the sale of critical minerals. The measures are the latest taken by the administration of President Donald Trump to try to bring peace to eastern Congo, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels staged a lightning advance earlier this year, spurring violence that has killed thousands of people. The Treasury Department said it was putting sanctions on the Coalition des Patriotes Resistants Congolais-Forces de Frappe (PARECO-FF), a militia that it said controlled mining sites in the mineral-rich region of Rubaya from 2022 to 2024. Rubaya, now controlled by M23, produces 15% of the world's coltan, which is processed into a heat-resistant metal called tantalum that is in high demand from makers of mobile phones, computers and other applications in the electronics, aerospace and medical industries. The new sanctions, which restrict trade with U.S. companies and persons, also target the Congolese mining company Cooperative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC), which the Treasury Department said sold critical minerals smuggled from PARECO-FF areas of control, and the Hong Kong-based export companies East Rise Corporation Limited and Star Dragon Corporation Limited, which it said bought those minerals. A senior U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington was seeking to raise the cost of illicit trade "to make the licit trade that much more appealing." The Trump administration hopes an eventual peace deal will attract billions in Western investments to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals. A report by a U.N. group of experts published last month said Congo's army had received support from PARECO-FF in late 2024 and early 2025. A Congolese government spokesperson and East Rise did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Star Dragon, CDMC and PARECO-FF could not be reached for comment. Jason Stearns, a Congo expert, said he was surprised that PARECO-FF, not M23, had been targeted in the new mining-related sanctions but said the move might be aimed at not derailing talks going on in Doha. Qatar is hosting direct talks between Congo and M23, while Washington is hosting talks between Congo and Rwanda. Congo, the United Nations and Western powers say Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms. Rwanda has long denied helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The senior U.S. official acknowledged M23 was involved in the illicit trade of minerals and noted that M23 has already had sanctions placed on it by the U.S. and the United Nations. A U.S. sanctions announcement in January 2013 said M23 was "committing serious violations of international law involving the targeting of children in situations of armed conflict in the DRC, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction, and forced displacement." It made no mention of minerals smuggling. Last year, the Treasury Department put sanctions on the broader Alliance Fleuve Congo rebel coalition, of which M23 is a central member. It has also sanctioned members of the M23 leadership. The senior U.S. official said the Trump administration's diplomacy was "progressing" and that sanctions were a way of targeting "spoilers" seeking to profit off the illicit mineral trade. It wanted all parties to realize there would be a brighter economic future if U.S. companies had confidence that they could invest in a "stable and peaceful" eastern Congo, the official said.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Macron admits France's repressive violence in Cameroon's war for independence
French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that France waged a war marked by 'repressive violence' in Cameroon before and after the country's independence in 1960 in a letter made public Tuesday. It is France's first official acknowledgment of its repression of Cameroon's independence movement as a war. The letter sent last month to Cameroonian President Paul Biya, follows a report released in January by a French-Cameroonian commission of historians. The report revealed that France carried out mass forced displacements, detained hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians in internment camps, and backed brutal militias to suppress the country's fight for independence and sovereignty between 1945 and 1971. The commission was established by Macron during a 2022 visit to the capital Yaoundé. It examined France's role leading up to Cameroon's independence on Jan. 1, 1960, and in the years that followed. 'At the end of their work, the historians of the Commission clearly highlighted that a war had taken place in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army carried out multiple forms of repressive violence in certain regions of the country — a war that continued beyond 1960 with France's support for actions carried out by the independent Cameroonian authorities,' the letter from Macron read. Macron also acknowledged France's role in the deaths of independence leaders Ruben Um Nyobè, Paul Momo, Isaac Nyobè Pandjock and Jérémie Ndéléné, who were killed between 1958 and 1960 in military operations under French command. Cameroon was a German colony until the end of World War I, when it was divided between Britain and France. The French-administered territory gained independence in 1960, and the southern British Cameroons joined in a federation the next year. The independence war began in the 1950s when the nationalist UPC launched an armed struggle for full sovereignty and reunification. Even after independence, the French-backed government continued to fight the UPC for years, The letter follows earlier moves by Macron to address France's colonial past, including his recognition of French responsibility in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the massacre of Senegalese riflemen after World War II. However, the French president has so far ruled out an official apology for torture and other abuses committed by French troops in Algeria. The letter comes at a time when France's presence in its former colonies in Africa has become increasingly contested, particularly in the Sahel region. ___
