A minute long video was shared on social media platforms on the 20th of august, showing a horrendous scene: a group of four teenagers, all underage undress a young lady by the name of Imane, and grab her by her intimate body parts, in a rolling moroccan bus in the city of Casablanca. Her shirt is pulled down, her pants' flight is open and the boys proceed to touch her, on her breasts, and below the belt as well as insulting her and attempting to shove a piece of cloth in her mouth, clearly against her will. The young lady begs them to stop, cries and screams. Nobody in the bus interferes, the conductor does not stop.
This tragedy happened on the 18th of august, and nobody from the chain of command in the bus' company reported it to the authorities until the video was posted. The bus company, Mdina Bus, continues to deny responsibility of allowing this act to occur in one of their buses in a press release.
The rapists, ages 15 to 17, were arrested this morning, thanks to a social media campaign of facebook users who recognized the boys in the video and posted their names and whereabouts.
INSIDE_MoroccoRapeBus1 INSIDE_MoroccoRapeBus2 Online, many comments show a justification of rape for her "revealing" outfit, the boys' "young" age and their coming from a "ghetto" area.
Uproar-in-Morocco-After-Collective-Sexual-Assault-of-Mentally-Challenged-Girl-3 Uproar-in-Morocco-After-Collective-Sexual-Assault-of-Mentally-Challenged-Girl-2 Uproar-in-Morocco-After-Collective-Sexual-Assault-of-Mentally-Challenged-Girl-1 The subject of sexual harassment and rape is brought up once a week at least in moroccan news, following a tragedy like this one. The victims often find themselves harassed online for their outfits. This isn't an incident in Morocco, this is a phenomenon. The young woman is 24 and allegedly suffers from mental issues.
A moroccan media "le360" went to the agressors' neighborhood and asked their neighbors for their take on the subject, all took defense of the boys excusing their behavior because of their "drug use", young age, and continue to blame the victim.
A sit in will take place on the 23rd of August in Casablanca, to denounce the heartbreaking tragedy with an approximate thousand people expected to attend. The protest will not only shed light on this recent case but on many more that happened previous to it and were not accounted for by the authorities.
Not that rape needs context or justification, the below incidents illustrates the recent rape culture in Morocco
- On the 7th of august, a 16 year old victim of collective rape killed herself in Marrakech after the rapists were released and declared innocent.
- On the 5th of august, a band of young boys contracted rabies after raping a donkey
- On May, in the village of Tikiouine, a 17 year old girl was raped by her boyfriend and two other men.
- On February, a moroccan horse training champion was found guilty of raping underage girls in Belgium.
- Last November, Saad Lamjarred, a moroccan pop star has been accused of raping a young lady in the US and later in France. King Mohammed VI tasked his lawyer with Lamjarred defense and allegedly paid his fees. Lamjarred's moroccan fans stood by his side and organized many protests to set him free, with no proof of innocence.
- Last December, an 18 year was found dead and gang raped in Rabat.
- August of 2016, a moroccan boxer was found guilty of raping Brazilian maids in the olympic village.
- November 2015, a video surfaced on social media of men attempting to rape an underage girl in the city of Khemisset
- The martyr of rape and rape law in Morocco, Amina Filali (16 years old) who took her own life after the court forced her to marry her rapist in 2012.
The video is available online though found too disturbing and inappropriate to show in this article.
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