Morocco: new scandal of sexual blackmail against good grades

New accusations of sexual blackmail at a school in Morocco have sparked controversy and triggered calls for possible other victims to break the silence after a recent similar scandal.

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A teacher at a business school in Oujda (North East) allegedly demanded sexual favors from a student in exchange for good grades, according to local media. The teacher was suspended until his presentation before a disciplinary council, an official from the Ministry of Education told AFP on Friday (December 31). The ministry has also launched an investigation into "

" in the same institution and ordered its director to resign.

This case sparked outrage on social networks, where a group called "

" launched an internet denunciation campaign to collect testimonies from possible other victims.

In early December, four professors from Hassan I University in Settat, a town near Casablanca, appeared before the Moroccan courts for similar acts of sexual blackmail on female students in exchange for good grades.

A fifth academic was prosecuted for "

", a more serious charge.

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In recent years, several cases of sexual harassment suffered by students from their professors in Moroccan universities have been publicized but often without complaints being filed. When they were, most went unanswered. Filing a complaint against your attacker is a very rare process in a conservative society which most often pushes victims of sexual violence to keep silent, for fear of reprisals, of the eyes of others or to protect the reputation of their family.

In 2018, after years of heated debate, a law entered into force, making for the first time punishable by prison sentences acts "

" .

However, the text was deemed "

" by women's rights movements who call for greater severity in the face of this scourge.