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.
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
Moroccan activists denounce arrest of journalist on abortion charges
Reuters
Sep 10, 2019
RABAT – Moroccan rights activists on Monday demanded the release of a journalist facing trial on charges of abortion and sex outside marriage, saying her arrest was politically motivated.
Dozens of activists staged a sit-in outside the Rabat court before the first hearing in her trial, chanting: “What a shame freedoms are in danger, what a shame journalism is in danger.
New Evidence Emerges in Journalist Hajar Raissouni’s Abortion Case
Hajar Raissouni was arrested for allegedly undergoing an illegal abortion procedure.
By Yahia Hatim
Sep 5, 2019
Rabat – Five days after Hajar Raissouni’s arrest, on August 31, new evidence has emerged causing more controversy around the case. A medical report, signed by Dr. Samir Bargach from Rabat’s Ibn-Sina Hospital, confirms that Raissouni underwent an abortion.
Additionally, the medical report claims that this pregnancy and abortion was not Raissouni’s first. According to the report she had undergone a previous abortion six months prior to the alleged procedure that prompted her arrest.
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