A 24-year-old Kuwaiti man, who was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-year-old minor girl while on a visit to Morocco last month, jumped bail and returned to Kuwait, reportedly with the assistance of the Kuwaiti embassy in Rabat.
Civil society in Morocco is said to be seething over the incident, after the President of the Court of Appeal in Marrakech confirmed that the Kuwaiti youth had left Morocco on 28 January, twenty-four hours after his provisional release on bail and despite the written pledge by the Kuwaiti embassy to the Moroccan judiciary.
The accused, identified only as ‘M.S.A.’ was supposed to be presented last Tuesday at the criminal chamber in the Court of Appeal in Marrakech, but failed to appear.
Affirming this incident in a statement, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) condemned the suspect’s provisional release on bail and the decision not to confiscate his passport. The Association also expressed its ‘surprise’ and denounced the Kuwait embassy for its failure to honor its commitment.
Reports citing the Kuwaiti embassy in Morocco, said the victim’s parents had forgiven the rapist in exchange for money. However, the AMDH stressed that it will pursue the case with help from all relevant institutions, to make sure the Kuwaiti man is arrested and sentenced. “We don’t want him to be sentenced in Kuwait. We want the authorities in Kuwait to expel him because he should be sentenced in Morocco, where he committed the crime,” said an official at AMDH.
He pointed out that the case has now moved from being a rape dossier to a case of human trafficking and that the Association will resort to all international legal tools to follow the accused and bring him to trial in Morocco.
The man reportedly raped the 14-year old girl in July 2019 in a rented apartment in Marrakech. The girl disappeared for a few days before reappearing after the ordeal and accusing the man of violently raping her in return for 3,600 Moroccoan dirhams. She said that the suspect hid her in his car’s trunk to get her inside the building and to avoid confrontations with the security guards in the apartment.
Article 486 of the penal code in Morocco stipulates that suspects involved in the rape of minors, people with special needs, or pregnant women should receive a prison sentence ranging between 10 and 20 years.