This Monday, September 10, 2019, the judges have requested the postponement of the trial of the Moroccan journalist, Hajar Raissouni, aged 28, accused of fornication and voluntary abortion.
The journalist and her fiancé were arrested on 31 August 2019 while leaving a clinic in Rabat. A doctor and two other people working in the same clinic were also arrested for suspected illegal abortions.
According to Moroccan law, couples who have sex outside marriage can be prosecuted and face a one-year prison sentence. In the same way, a woman who voluntarily decides to abort risks a sentence ranging from 6 months to 2 years in prison and a fine.
However, this arrest of the journalist is considered unfair by the Moroccan Association for the right to abortion, which finds that every day between 600 and 800 abortions take place in the country.
On Monday, September 10, 2019, at the opening of the trial of Hajar Raissouni, many demonstrators came to support the journalist who works for the newspaper Akhbar-Al-Yaoum, and demanded his immediate and unconditional release.
The trial was postponed to Monday, September 16, 2019 but in the meantime, the journalist remains in prison.
