Several associations have mobilized in recent days in Morocco against a "witch hunt" targeting the LGBT community (lesbians, gays, bis and trans), after the publication on social networks of personal data collected on dating sites.
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A group of around 20 human rights associations has questioned the Moroccan authorities, worried about this "smear campaign" and "intimidation"in a statement released Sunday. About sixty names, along with photographs and sometimes addresses or phone numbers, were released last week on social media after being picked up on various specialized dating apps like Grindr or PlanetRomeo, according to information gathered by the 'AFP with several activists. Since then, some have received hate messages, others have been thrown into the street by their families or have suffered violence from their relatives ulcerated by their sexual orientation, according to testimonies collected by different associations.
"We receive calls and we assist people in difficulty who have been + outraged + (whose sexual orientation has been revealed, editor's note) against their will," Nidal Alhary, an official at the Feminist Union, told AFP. libre, an association from Rabat that runs an emergency telephone platform dedicated to domestic and sexual violence. "The worst part is that we cannot help them because of the confinement," said on condition of anonymity a member of the association "Akaliyat" (minorities) which militates against "criminalization and discrimination" against sexual and religious minorities.
"Some wanted to file complaints but encountered hostility from the police," said AFP, RN. This Casablanca activist who does not want to be identified is participating in a network to collect data on the victims and those who denounced them. This network strives in particular to verify information suggesting suicide cases, which have not yet been confirmed. A taboo subject, an object of social condemnation, homosexuality is considered a crime in Morocco, the Moroccan penal code punishing from six months to three years in prison "licentious or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex".
Although prosecutions remain less systematic than in other countries in the region, a total of 170 people were prosecuted in 2018 for this reason, according to official figures. Human rights defenders have been calling for the repeal of this law for several years, as well as articles punishing sex outside marriage and adultery.