The Marrakech appeal court sentenced, Thursday, the man who sexually assaulted a girl in Benguerir to 10 years in prison. The 21-year-old man was arrested in March after he appeared in a viral video trying to rape a young girl. The criminal chamber of the Marrakech Court of Appeal sentenced on Thursday, 10th of May, the man who appeared in a viral video sexually assaulting a young girl to 10 years in prison, head of human rights association Najia Adib told Yabiladi on Friday. The court sentenced the accomplice believed to have filmed the «shocking» video to eight years in prison, and a third person who shared the clip on social media to two years in jail. «The court's ruling meets our expectations, rapists and assaulters are not sentenced to two and three years in prison anymore», argued Adib who heads «Touche pas à mon enfant» (Don't Touch my Children). On the 28th of March, local authorities in the Rehamna Province, near Marrakech, arrested the 21-year-old attacker. The arrest came after a video went viral on the internet the day before, showing the arrestee holding a girl to the ground and trying to rape her while she was screaming and begging to be released and left alone. «The ruling reassures us as activists. It's a positive thing as it would prevent other alleged offenders from doing the same thing. Light sentences, and it must be acknowledged, encourage some rapists to carry on with their offences». Najia Adib Serious cases Najia Adib seized the opportunity to discuss some of the issues she stumbles upon through her NGO. «In Rabat, a rapist broke into the house of two girls to rape them. These women threw themselves out of the window to avoid it», the activist told Yabiladi. Adib had more serious cases to mention when speaking to Yabiladi this morning. Near Kenitra a man attacked a woman with the intention to sexually assault her. «When she tried to defend herself, he hit her with a shovel, amputating her ear», she sadly narrated. «To be honest with you, victims are most of the time young, and poor, they do not have the means to see an expert» to get over the psychological remains of such attacks and have the chance to heal up, she argued. For Adib, girls from small towns suffer the most from this situation. «We try to help, to assure that these girls can check with psychiatrists, but we do not have enough human resources for that», she concluded.
