Moroccan Justice Minister Moustapha Ramid has made several homophobic comments following an unprovoked beating of a man in Fez at the end of June.
Human Rights Watch recently criticized the minister's comments, although Ramid did call for the prosecution of the attackers. However, the minister also said that homosexuals should avoid "provoking society" while added that citizens should not "enforce the law themselves," insinuating that homosexuality deserves legal punishment.
“Homosexuality will not be allowed in Morocco, [otherwise I] would resign,” Ramid also said, adding that he “won’t take the responsibility for defending [homosexuality] before Allah,” the news website Alyaoum24.com reported according to HRW.
“What the person in charge of justice in Morocco should be announcing in the wake of this gay-bashing incident is a zero-tolerance policy toward such attacks,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa HRW director, said.
“Instead, he goes around making statements that suggest that people perceived as gay are abnormal and share the blame for anti-gay violence.”
Morocco has anti-homosexuality laws on the books that it often uses to prosecute gay men. According to HRW, several individuals have been prosecuted recently under article 489 of Morocco’s penal code. The law calls for punishments between six month and three years for "acts against nature when committed between members of the same sex."
HRW's recent criticism comes after the June 29 beating of a man who was kicked out of a taxi. The driver referred to the man with a derogatory colloquial term for homosexual or effeminate men. A crowd eagerly surrounded the ejected man and began beating him, captured on video by bystanders.
"The taxi driver’s yelling caused this whole thing," the beaten man said, according to HRW.
"I didn’t invite this attack or deserve it. I’m like any other person."
A police officer and a few young people eventually came to the man's aid, but instead of arresting the attackers, the officer took the beaten man to the police station where he was held and questioned until noon the next day.
A few days later, the police announced that two of the attackers had been arrested. They were charged with assault for their actions. Some 55 lawyers from throughout the country have offered their services to the victim.
HRW has called for the abolishment of Article 489 and the decriminalization of all sexual relations between consenting adults.
"The combination of a country that enforces anti-gay laws, a justice system that denies a fair trial, and the social stigma attached to homosexuality is a formula for serious violations of the rights to privacy and equality and other basic rights."