Morocco Promises Changes In Rape-Marriage Law

RABAT, March 15 (Reuters) - Morocco on Thursday said it would amend a law allowing rapists to marry their underage female victims after the suicide of a teenage girl raised doubts about the effectiveness of reforms to women's rights in the country.

Sixteen-year-old Amina El-Filali killed herself last week near the northern city of Larache by swallowing rat poison after a six-month forced marriage to the man who raped her.

Local human rights activists say the law violates women's rights and was created to avoid damage to the reputation of the victim's family.

Rape victims in Morocco carry a stigma of shame and dishonour. They are often suspected by police and judges of consent, and little social assistance is given to help them rebuild their lives.

Convicted rapists face five to 10 years in prison, and up to 20 years when the victim is underage.

At the westernmost boundary of the Muslim world, and only a stone throw's away from Europe, Moroccan women find themselves enjoying more freedoms. A family law reformed in 2004 won the North African country praise from the West for giving Moroccan women more rights than many Arab states.

But that reform, which led to the creation of matrimonial courts, has been dogged by Morocco's conservative and predominantly male judges, and by a failure to adopt laws to ensure better protection to women from physical abuse.

If there was consent, it wouldn't be rape. There is no shame for the family, or the victim, or there shouldn't be. Being selected for rape can come down to opportunity, or something out of the victim's control, such as eye color or height. It cam come from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or as the result of a poor decision. But it never, ever comes from consent, or the very definition of rape is contradicted.

That a female minor could be raped and then forced to marry her attacker is insane. How does that save her or her family any pain? Compounding the mistake at the victim's expense is deplorable. Forced marriage is sickening enough as it is, but marrying one's attacker would be a lifetime of servitude to the person who caused them pain and terror.

And this is after radical improvements.