A Moroccan university professor, prosecuted for
"indecent assault with violence"
in a case of sexual blackmail targeting female students in exchange for good grades, has been sentenced to two years in prison, local media reported on Wednesday (January 12th).
This is the first verdict delivered in the scandal known as
"sex for good grades"
, which splashes the university institution.
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Lecturer in economics at Hassan I University in Settat, this professor in preventive detention was found guilty of
"indecent assault"
,
"violence"
and
"sexual harassment"
before the criminal chamber of the court of appeal of this city close to Casablanca, according to the media. One of the plaintiffs waived any legal action in exchange for compensation of 70,000 dirhams (6,640 euros), they said.
Four other university professors, two of whom are on bail, are due to appear Thursday in connection with the same scandal.
They face heavy charges:
"incitement to debauchery"
,
"discrimination based on gender"
,
"violence against women"
... Due to the scandal, the dean of the Faculty of Law and Economics of Settat resigned at the end of November.
The so-called
“sex for good grades”
affair was relayed in September by local media after the posting on social networks of messages of a sexual nature exchanged between one of the professors prosecuted and his students.
Other similar scandals have erupted recently.
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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.
And 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 the family.
Human rights associations and the media regularly sound the alarm bells on the violence inflicted on Moroccan women.
In 2018, after years of heated debate, a law entered into force.
For the first time, it makes punishable by prison terms acts
"considered as forms of harassment, assault, sexual exploitation or ill-treatment"
.
However, the text was deemed "insufficient" by women's rights movements who call for greater severity in the face of this scourge.