Morocco: Protesters call for release of jailed sexual attackers

Around 100 people protested in the city of Beni Mellal as the trial of two homosexuals and a group of men who allegedly attacked them resumed on Monday. A Moroccan court released the two male victims while two perpetrators convicted of attacking the couple remain incarcerated.
Local citizens and relatives of the arrested attackers gathered outside the court and demanded their release. "Law 489 of the penal code prohibits homosexuality. The victims reported that they have had homosexual relations and the judge released them and our children are in jail," said one of the family members of a man accused of involvement in the attack.
The first victim of the attack was initially handed a four-month jail term for ‘acts against nature’ but the Monday appeal hearing overturned this, releasing him on time served. The second victim was given a four-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of ‘sexual deviancy’. For the assault on the couple, one offender was given a six-month prison term while another received a four-month sentence after being convicted of forced entry, carrying weapons and using violence. Two other suspects were acquitted and a fifth is set to be tried at a later date in a court for minors.
Last month, the group of individuals allegedly assaulted two men in an apartment in Beni Mellal. A video of the attack was published on YouTube on March 25, showing two half-naked and bloodied men being assaulted and dragged into the street.
Human rights organisations have demanded that Rabat decriminalises homosexuality that is illegal in Morocco and punishable by up to three years imprisonment.