Moroccan king pardons journalist jailed for having an abortion

Moroccan king pardons journalist jailed for having an abortion

Issued on: 16/10/2019
Text by: NEWS WIRES
Video by: Nicolas RUSWORTH

Morocco’s king has pardoned Hajar Raissouni, a journalist sentenced to a year in prison last month for extramarital sex and an abortion, along with her fiance, a doctor and two of his colleagues, the justice ministry said on Wednesday.
Advertising

The case of Raissouni, who had denied the charges against her, outraged human rights activists who said she had been targeted for her work for a newspaper that has criticised the state, and because she is the niece of a prominent Islamist.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/20191016-moroccan-king-pardons-journalist-jailed-for-having-an-abortion

16.10.2019

Moroccan Association for Abortion Rights

Moroccan Journalist Jailed for an Abortion She Says She Never Had

Moroccan Journalist Jailed for an Abortion She Says She Never Had

By Amanda Arnold
Oct. 1, 2019

On Monday, a 28-year-old Moroccan journalist was sentenced to a year in prison for an abortion that she denies ever getting, in a case that critics have condemned as part of a concerted effort to suppress journalists’ critical coverage of the government, the Guardian reports.

Over the past month, the prosecution of Hajar Raissouni — as well as of her fiancé, Rifaat al-Amin — has sparked nationwide outrage. On August 31, Raissouni and al-Amin were arrested after leaving a gynecologist’s office in the capital of Morocco, where abortion is illegal in nearly all cases. Raissouni claims she wasn’t there to terminate a pregnancy; instead, she says she was visiting the doctor to get a blood clot removed. During the trial, a lawyer for her doctor provided medical evidence regarding Raissouni’s hormone levels that further demonstrated she had not undergone an abortion.

Continued: https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/moroccan-journalist-jailed-abortion-she-denies-having.html

01.10.2019

jailing women for abortion

Moroccan journalist gets year in jail over alleged abortion

Moroccan journalist gets year in jail over alleged abortion
Hajar Raissouni denied having an abortion and denounced the trial as being politically motivated.

30 Sept 2019

A court in Morocco has sentenced journalist Hajar Raissouni to a year in jail for having had an "illegal" abortion and sexual relations outside of marriage.

The 28-year-old's Sudanese fiance and gynaecologist on Monday were also handed one and two-year jail sentences, respectively, while an anaesthetist and medical assistance were given suspended sentences of a year and eight months, also respectively.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/moroccan-journalist-year-jail-alleged-abortion-190930183757463.html

Moroccan Journalist Sentenced to Prison for Abortion and Premarital Sex

Moroccan Journalist Sentenced to Prison for Abortion and Premarital Sex

By Aida Alami
Sept. 30, 2019

RABAT, Morocco — A Moroccan judge on Monday found a journalist and her fiancé guilty of having premarital sex and obtaining an abortion, and imposed prison sentences on them and a doctor convicted of performing the abortion, in a case that critics have denounced as a thinly veiled bid to suppress critical coverage of the government.

The journalist, Hajar Raissouni, 28, who works for the independent daily newspaper Akhbar Al Yaoum, and her fiancé, Rifaat al-Amin, were arrested on Aug. 31 as they were leaving a gynecologist’s office in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/world/africa/morocco-abortion-sex-hajar-raissouni.html

Moroccan court jails journalist on abortion charge that she denies

Moroccan court jails journalist on abortion charge that she denies

Ahmed Eljechtimi
September 30, 2019

RABAT (Reuters) - A Moroccan court on Monday sentenced a journalist to a year in prison for sex outside marriage and having an abortion, both of which she denied, in a case that has outraged rights activists, who say the charges are politically motivated.

Police arrested Hajar Raissouni, 28, on Aug. 31 along with her fiancé as they were leaving a gynecologists clinic in Rabat.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-morocco-trial/moroccan-court-jails-journalist-on-abortion-charge-that-she-denies-idUSKBN1WF22T

Moroccan journalist jailed for abortion that she says never happened

Moroccan journalist jailed for abortion that she says never happened
Critics say Hajar Raissouni’s one-year sentence is a crackdown on criticism government

Ruth Michaelson
Mon 30 Sep 2019

A Moroccan journalist has been sentenced to a year in prison on charges of having an illegal abortion and premarital sex, in a trial observers say was concocted to crack down on criticism of the government.

A Rabat court sentenced journalist Hajar Raissouni to one year in prison, on charges of “having an illegal abortion and sexual relations outside marriage”. Her fiancee, Prof Rifaat al-Amin was given a one-year sentence for alleged complicity.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/30/moroccan-journalist-hajar-raissouni-jailed-abortion

Morocco – Who Gets Arrested for Having an Abortion?

Who Gets Arrested for Having an Abortion?
Laws that criminalize “immoral” behavior in Morocco and elsewhere aren’t about ethics. They’re tools for state control.

By Ursula Lindsey
Sept. 25, 2019

On Aug. 31, six plainclothes policemen arrested a woman named Hajar Raissouni outside the office of her obstetrician-gynecologist in Morocco’s capital, Rabat. She was detained along with her fiancé, her doctor, his anesthesiologist and his secretary. Her doctor was compelled to hand over her medical records while Ms. Raissouni was forced to undergo a medical examination and to answer questions about her sex life.

Ms. Raissouni, a 28-year-old journalist from a politically active family, is now on trial for having an abortion and for having sex outside of marriage. Both are crimes under Morocco’s penal code, and she faces up to two years in jail; her doctor also faces jail time. Ms. Raissouni’s defense maintains that there was no abortion and that the medical reports presented by the prosecution are false.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/opinion/hajar-raissouni-arrest.html

25.09.2019

Moroccan women say they are abortion ‘outlaws’ in protest at journalist’s trial

Moroccan women say they are abortion 'outlaws' in protest at journalist's trial

Issued on: 23/09/2019

Hundreds of Moroccan women on Monday signed a manifesto stating that they have broken their country's "unfair" laws punishing extramarital relations and abortions.

The statement comes as a Moroccan female journalist stands trial for allegedly having sex outside of wedlock and illegally terminating a pregnancy.

"We, Moroccan citizens, declare that we are outlaws," the women said in the text published in Moroccan media outlets and due to appear in French daily Le Monde on Tuesday.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/20190923-morocco-women-sex-abortion-manifesto-protest-journalist-raissouni-leila-slimani

23.09.2019

The Next Battleground for Abortion Rights: Morocco

The Next Battleground for Abortion Rights: Morocco
The North African country is emerging as a key battleground on abortion, with an increasingly assertive movement seeking a break with conservative laws.

By Alice Morrison
Sept 23 2019

It’s midnight and moonless as a group of women gathers outside the Ministry of Health in Rabat, Morocco. They have assembled to wage war on Morocco’s abortion laws, which prohibit abortion in all cases except when the life of the mother is in immediate danger. Their weapon of choice? Sanitary towels covered in fake blood and slogans they affix to the walls of the ministry.

“No uterus — no opinion.”
“My body, my rules.”
“Abortion for all — women decide.”

Continued: https://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/the-next-battleground-for-abortion-rights-morocco/96108

Protest held outside trial of Moroccan journalist accused of illegal abortion

Protest held outside trial of Moroccan journalist accused of illegal abortion
Hajar Raissouni says charges are fabricated and motivated by her work, which is critical of government

Ruth Michaelson in Cairo
Mon 16 Sep 2019

Demonstrators have staged a protest outside a court in Rabat to coincide with the latest hearing in the trial of a Moroccan journalist accused of undergoing an illegal abortion and having sex before marriage.

In a letter written from prison, Hajar Raissouni said the charges were fabricated and motivated by her work, which had been critical of the government.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/16/protest-moroccan-journalist-trial-hajar-raissouni