Feminist activist sent to prison for ‘Allah is lesbian’ T-shirt - Morocco

[IwantToRetire]

A feminist activist has been sent to prison for two-and-a-half years because of messages on a T-shirt she wore in a selfie posted online.

The shirt featured the word “Allah” in Arabic, followed by the words “is lesbian” in English.

Ibtissam Lachgar was charged with blasphemy and with disseminating the image online.

She was found guilty of violating part of Morocco’s criminal code that outlaws offending the monarchy or Islam, her lawyer, Naïma El Guellaf, said.

A member of Ms Lachgar’s legal team said they plan to appeal the conviction.

Article continues at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/morocco-islam-prison-ibtissam-lachgar-b2819995.html

I think that's where she should be. By all means do that in the UK if you feel the need to express yourself, that's great, but when you go to visit another country as a visitor and knowingly insult and antagonise them by breaking their laws then you need removing from that society. You're a public menace and a nuisance and she might think twice before being so insulting and narcissistic.

Or her own countrys law if she a citizen there.

She had no intention of offending Islam? Come on.

That was just being offensive for the sake of being offensive.

Frankly, what did she expect?

I'm an atheist and couldn't care less whether people choose to worship or not, but don't go to a muslim country and insult their religion. They take this stuff seriously.

Just as a person from Ethiopia can't come to the UK, sexually grope a 14yo child and not expect to get a custodial sentence.

Just read the article and saw that her defence are saying that she’s allowed freedom of speech, as permitted in Morocco. Fair enough, they have a valid point. However, she was pretty stupid and it was a provocative slogan, and bound to cause offence. She should have known better.

A pretty stupid thing to do .

This is a very very different thing. Choosing to go to another country to make fun or be offensive or whatever, FAFO. But exerting your right to protest in your own country is very different. You should have the right to peaceful protest in your own country. As a woman, as a feminist, if she wants to protest, even to offend, she should have that right.

I’m pretty stunned on FWR that her right to peaceful protest in her own country is being argued with.

Agree.

I have no sympathy at all. Common sense would have told her that she would cause religious offence to some people and she chose to do it anyway.

I think it just shows how regressive much of the world still is when it comes to religious sentiment. Something to bear in mind about the potential islamaphobia laws being proposed in the UK.

I'm not sure that anyone in the UK is in a position to comment. The UK does not uphold the right to peaceful protest in your own country. The law on offense to the monarchy and Islam in Morocco is clear and she knew what it says. She therefore went out of her way to break that law. And that is her right provided she recognises that there can be (and have been) consequences. It doesn't mean I agree with Morocco, simply that this is the current state of the law.

In the UK in recent weeks hundreds of peaceful protesters have been arrested for breaking the law because they feel that there is a right to protest even if that breaks the law. Whether you agree with them or not this is exactly the same situation. They disagree with the way the law on terrorism has been used, they have peacefully protested about that, and they have been arrested for it. They also knew the potential consequences and chose to do so anyway. Just as she did. And we also have a right to "freedom of speech".

People in glass houses and all that?

Rosa Parks knew the rules. Nelson Mandela. Emmeline Pankhurst. Daniel Ortega.

All idiots who should have known better. And the two men on that list engaged in armed resistance and we STILL protested their incarceration.

And we can’t comment because our country is shit too.

I’m genuinely looking around wondering where the fuck I am. Checking I’m in MN. Checking I’m in FWR.

Yeah when did fwr become a comfy home for people who don't believe in women's rights (including to feminist protest)?

Yep she in her own country should be punished for not following a faith and for passive activism to make a political message.

Doue

Sorry, what does FWR mean?

Yeah no idea what's happened to this place but it's depressing.

I don't know why people are saying she's not Moroccan? This is very clearly meant to be an act of protest in a country where religion is used to justify repression of women and gay people. There is also a lot of police corruption and brutality. What would you do if you lived in a country where you could be arrested for being gay? Would you not protest?

I recommend Sex and Lies by Leila Slimani to anyone interested in women in Morocco.

Feminism and Women's Rights. What this place was called before the Great Schism. Just shorthand for the Feminist section.

This FFS.

And thanks for the recommendation.

Is it any more 'offensive' than a t-shirt saying 'God is a Woman'?

I think blasphemy laws and laws against same sex relationships are a load of old shit.

I absolutely support this woman.

Unlike others though I'm not really surprised to see these reactions on FWR. This has become more of a gender critical space than a feminist space, and some gender critical people feel that way because they're religious and/or culturally conservative.

But what on earth was she protesting?

But what is the political message?