Moroccan Court Jails Women’s Rights Activist for Insulting Islam in Social Media Post
A court in Rabat has sentenced activist and psychologist Ibtissame Lachgar to two and a half years in prison for offending Islam. She was also fined 50,000 dirhams (about $5,500), her lawyer Mohamed Khattab said, adding that the verdict would be appealed.
The case drew attention after a controversial social media post. Lachgar, 50, was arrested last month after posting online a picture of herself wearing a T-shirt with the word “Allah” in Arabic followed by bad word.
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The announcement of the sentence brought tears from relatives and supporters waiting at the courthouse, according to an AFP reporter present.
Human rights advocates criticized the ruling. Hakim Sikouk, president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, said the punishment was “shocking” and amounted to an attack on free expression.
During the trial, Lachgar claimed that the message on the shirt was unrelated to religion. She explained that the phrase had been used for years in campaigns challenging sexism and violence against women. “It has no connection to the Islamic faith,” she told the court.
Her conviction has reignited debate in Morocco over how far personal freedoms extend in a society where religion plays a central role. Supporters see the sentence as a worrying sign for dissent, while others insist that language deemed disrespectful to faith cannot be tolerated.
