Woman is arrested and threatened with stoning after wearing a T-shirt saying 'Allah is lesbian' in Morocco
Ibtissame Lachgar is accused of posting a photo wearing a shirt that is offensive to Islam, and writing a caption that was also insulting to the religion.
The Public Prosecutor's Office at the Rabat Court of First Instance in Morocco announced she was taken into police custody on Sunday, as authorities investigate the photo.
'Following a woman's posting of a photo on her social media account, which depicts her wearing a shirt with phrases offensive to the divine, along with a caption insulting Islam, the public prosecutor ordered an investigation,' its statement said.
'Due to its urgency, the subject has been placed under police custody in accordance with the law.'
In the photo, the outspoken feminist activist can be seen smiling with her hands on her hips as she poses wearing the T-shirt.
She wrote on X: 'In Morocco, I walk around with T-shirts bearing messages against religions, Islam, etc.
'You tire us with your sanctimoniousness, your accusations. Yes, Islam, like any religious ideology, is FASCIST. PHALLOCRATIC AND MISOGYNISTIC.'
Lachgar is a developmental psychologist as well as a feminist and atheist activist who has organised a number of protests in Morocco about women's rights, LGBTQ+ issues and male violence.
She co-founded the Mouvement alternatif pour les libertés individuelles (MALI), which campaigns for individual freedoms such as the right for abortion and same-sex marriage.
Her post sparked outrage online, as well as debate, with some accounts showing support for the feminist.
After she posted the photo on July 31, Lachgar took to social media to describe the online hatred she received for wearing the T-shirt.
Writing on Facebook, Lachgar said she had been subjected to three days of 'cyber bullying, thousands of threats of rape, death, calls for lynching and stoning'.
She posted some of the comments she had been receiving as backlash, including one on X by the account @moufarrid which said:
'Our country is in danger; this woman named Ibtissem Lachgar is currently free. She was born in Rabat and currently lives in Morocco. She is a feminist activist, anti-royalist, pro-secularism, and openly Islamophobic.
'Her freedom is an insult to all Moroccans. 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.
Lachgar's post sparked outrage online, with many calling for her to be punished by the authorities
'The authorities have still not apprehended her, and this is unacceptable. We must not let such an act go unpunished. There is nothing more sacred to Moroccans than Allah, than Islam. This woman's place is behind bars.'
A 2002 Moroccan law restricting media freedom states that expression deemed critical of 'Islam, the institution of the monarchy, or territorial integrity' is not permissible and may be punishable by imprisonment.
Moreover, according to law, 'anyone who employs incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion' incurs a sentence of three to six months' imprisonment and a fine of 115 to 575 MAD (£9.46 to £47.29).
In 2007, Moroccan editor Driss Ksikes and journalist Sanaa al-Aji were handed three-year suspended sentences and ordered to pay fines of $8,000 (£5,948) each after an article they wrote about religious jokes.
The journalists were accused of 'defaming Islam and damaging morality' and were banned from working for the magazine Nichane for two months
In 2013, Lachgar was one of the organisers of a public 'kiss-in' in Rabat in support of three teenagers who were arrested for posting a photo of themselves kissing on Facebook.
A boy and girl, aged 15 and 14, alongside their 15-year-old male friend, were charged with 'violating public decency' and held in a juvenile centre after posting the photo outside their school in the northern town of Nador, local media reported.
At the demonstration protesting against conservatism in Moroccan society, the activists locked lips outside the parliament building in the capital city.
In 2012, as part of her pro-choice advocacy, Lachgar invited the Women on Waves' abortion boat to anchor in Morocco as a symbolic protest against anti-abortion laws.
The boat, purportedly offering medical abortions as well as advice, was manned by a Dutch campaign group who advocate for reproductive rights for women in countries where abortion is not legal.
The boat started its journey from the Netherlands and was scheduled to dock at the port of Smir before it was blocked by authorities.
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