Case of Amina El Filali

On 10 March 2012, Amina El Filali (sometimes also referred to as Amina Filali) (1996–2012), a 16-year-old girl from Larache, Morocco, committed suicide by taking rat poison, after she was forced by her family to marry a man who had raped her when she was 15. According to Article 475 of the Moroccan penal code, the rapist was allowed to avoid prosecution by marrying his victim. This incident drew much attention to Moroccan law, and many people expressed a desire to have the law changed.[1] Local human rights groups also called for the repeal of Article 475 of the Moroccan penal code, which de-criminalises a rape if the rapist later marries their victim.[2][3][4] Two years after the suicide, the parliament decided to modify Article 475; it was edited in 2014.[5]

A documentary about Amina Filali was released in 2013, which found that there had been four similar incidents in the town's history.[6]

  1. ^ Paul Schemm (March 14, 2012). "Amina Filali, Morocco Rape Victim, Commits Suicide After Forced Marriage To Rapist". The Huffington Post.
  2. ^ "Moroccans call for end to rape-marriage laws". Al Jazeera. March 15, 2012.
  3. ^ "Morocco protest after raped Amina Filali kills herself". BBC News. March 15, 2012.
  4. ^ "Teen Forced To Marry Her Rapist Kills Herself". Sky News. March 15, 2012.
  5. ^ Morocco scraps law Archived 2014-03-07 at the Wayback Machine Channel news asia 23 Jan 2014
  6. ^ جدلية, Jadaliyya-. "Exposing Sexual Violence in Morocco: An Interview with Nadir Bouhmouch". Jadaliyya - جدلية. Retrieved 2020-05-22.