Lenient sentence of 3 Moroccan rapists draws anger

A two-year sentence handed down against three Moroccan men for raping a child at gunpoint drew angry reactions by people who called for a harsher penalty to deter others from committing such crimes.

Handing down the sentences earlier this week, a Moroccan court said it found the three men guilty of raping and impregnating the unidentified 11-year-old girl in the capital Rabat on March 20. It sentenced each to two years in prison, according to DW and other news outlets.

Rights activists flooded social media platforms with denunciation of the court’s sentencing, asserting that the lenient prison term was “unfair to the victim and the public right.”

Jossour Forum des Femmes Marocaines, French for Jossour Forum for Moroccan Women, called for urgent “immediate and urgent action” by launching an “impartial investigation that guarantees the rights of this innocent child.” It also called for revising the penalty to impose a harsher one on the perpetrators.