Moroccan feminist jailed for blasphemy triggers international outcry

As Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar awaits a possible five-year sentence in Morocco for “insulting Islam,” international protests have begun to stir in her defense.

On August 12, Lachgar was detained in Rabat after posting a photo of herself on X in a T-shirt bearing the words “Allah is a lesbian.” While Moroccan officials denounced the act as a “premeditated and deliberate insult to the divine entity,” activists abroad have demanded her release, staging a sit-in on August 27 in the Spanish city of Algeciras, according to Yabiladi.

Lagar is no stranger to controversy. A feminist and LGBT activist, she co-founded the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties (MALI) in Morocco and is known for shock-value attire, including a similar shirt worn on French TV in 2021.

Still, the news of her arrest came as a “shock” to the activist’s family and has opened a new chapter for international activism around the Kingdom’s censorship laws. Those close to her suggest that Lagar was detained this time, where she has evaded the law so many times before, because of the “unexpected” backlash the photo received.

The shirt went viral, drawing thousands of online threats, ranging from sexist abuse to rape and death threats to calls for stoning. Among those demanding punishment was former Justice Minister Mustafa Ramid, who echoed the government’s claim that the act was a deliberate affront to religion.

Responding to the charges on X, she wrote: “In Morocco, I walk around with t-shirts with messages against religions, Islam, etc. … Yes, Islam, like any religious ideology, is FASCIST, PHALLOCRATIC AND MISOGYNISTIC.”

Lachgar now faces between six months and five years in prison, depending on how judges interpret Article 267-5 of the Moroccan Penal Code, which criminalises insults to Islam. The sit-in in her support is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. on Vianueva Street.

Yabiladi, Le Monde, Maghrebi.org