Mother Of A Rape Victim Asks Moroccan Gov’t To Stop Law Allowing Rapists To Marry Their Victims For Exoneration

In this Saturday, April 7, 2012 file photo, Zohra Filali, mother of Amina Filai, right, delivers a petition to the Moroccan government to stop the law which allows rapists to marry their victims and thus exonerate themselves, in Casablanca.

Nearly a year after Morocco was shocked by the suicide of a 16-year-old girl who was forced to marry her alleged rapist, the government has announced plans to change the penal code to outlaw the traditional practice.

Women’s rights activists on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 welcomed Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid’s announcement, but said it was only a first step in reforming a penal code that doesn’t do enough to stop violence against women in this North African kingdom.

Last March, 16-year-old Amina al-Filali poisoned herself to get out of a seven-month-old abusive marriage to a 23-year-old she said had raped her. Her parents and a judge had pushed the marriage to protect the family honor. The incident sparked calls for the law to be changed. <AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar, File>