Moroccan woman jailed on suspicion of procuring abortion

September 11, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Rabat, Morocco, Sep 11, 2019 / 02:58 pm (CNA).- A Moroccan journalist has been jailed for allegedly procuring an abortion and for fornication. The country's penal code bars abortion except in cases when the mother's life is endangered.

Hajar Raissouni, 28, was arrested Aug. 31 as she left a clinic in Rabat, AFP reported. Also arrested were her fiance, Rifaat al-Amin, and a doctor, nurse, and secretary from the obstetrics-gynecology clinic.

Her trial was due to begin Sept. 9, but has been postponed to Sept. 16 following protests.

All five are being held until next week's hearing.

Raissouni writes for Akhbar Al-Yaoum, which is reportedly critical of the Moroccan government.

Prosecutors have said her arrest has “nothing to do with her profession as a journalist,” but some worry it is politically motivated.

Raissouni could face as much as two years imprisonment if found guilty.

The doctor, nurse, and secretary have been charged with carrying out and complicity in abortion, and face up to 10 years imprisonment, The Independent reported.

Saad Sahli, a lawyer for Raissouni and al-Amin, said that Raissouni had been receiving treatment for internal bleeding at the clinic where she was arrested.

After her arrest, Raissouni was taken to hospital where she was given a gynecological exam, another of her lawyers said, according to The Independent.

Prosecutors say there were indications of pregnancy and that she had received a “late voluntary abortion.”

Rabat officials have also indicated the clinic where the five were arrested if being surveilled, after reports that abortions are regularly procured there.

Raissouni and al-Amin have been religiously, but not legally, married, according to AFP.

Sunni Islam is the established religion of Morocco.

According to a group that support abortion rights, most abortion-related arrests in the country involve medical officials, and only rarely do they include the women who procure abortions.

In 2018, Moroccan courts tried more than 14,500 people for debauchery; 3,048 for adultery; 170 for homosexuality; and 73 for abortions, AFP reported.

Brunei, another Muslim country, adopted a penal code in April that punishes anyone who commits qatl (homicide) on a fetus by intentionally causing its miscarriage with diya (monetary compensation to the child's heirs) and with up to 15 years imprisonment.

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African bishops say UN Nairobi Summit will be destructive of pro-life agenda

November 6, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 6, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- Bishops in Africa have raised concerns about the agenda of the Nairobi Summit, a United Nations gathering being held next week, saying the meeting will be destructive to humanity and the values around human life.

Sponsored by the UN Population Fund and the governments of Kenya and Denmark, the Nairobi Summit marks the 25th anniversary of the Cairo Conference on Population and Development. It will be held in Nairobi Nov. 12-14.

Its program includes five themes, among which are “Universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as a part of universal health coverage” and “Upholding the right to sexual and reproductive health care even in humanitarian and fragile contexts.”

Bishop Alfred Rotich, Bishop Emeritus of the Military Ordinariate of Kenya and chair of the Kenyan bishops’ family life office, told ACI Africa: “We find such a conference not good for us, (and) destroying the agenda for life.”

“There will be about 10,000 people here and we know what they are for, they are not pro-life but they are 10,000 abortionists. They are practitioners of what is against life. Their coming here is to endorse a wrong policy,” Bishop Rotich stated.

The bishop described Kenya as a country “always open and ready and receptive to all manner of discussion and things,” and wondered why the Kenyan president has offered the country as a market where the pro-choice agenda can be be sold.

“We are looking at it from the African culture and we are asking the nation through the president, have we no values?” Bishop Rotich asked.

He continued: “What is the constitution saying about the respect of God? What is our interpretation, we as independent and sovereign nation? Are we aware of the enemy that is continually interfering with our tradition and culture of protecting life?”

He described the summit as an intrusion that is a “dragon against our agenda for life” and affirmed, “We must protect our borders, which (are) in this case the life of this country – now and in the future.”

Archbishop Martin Kivuva of Mombasa described the summit’s agenda as “unacceptable according to our teaching of the Catholic Church” and, like Bishop Rotich, he cautioned president Uhuru Kenyatta to be wary of the forum.

“Be warned Mr. President, these (ICPD25 agenda) are the issues you should watch out,” Archbishop Kivuva said, adding: “We need to say no, we cannot take this.”

Referring to the organizers of the summit, Archbishop Kivuva said that “It is not the first time they are doing this, and they have a hidden agenda.”

“Remember most of this is about population reduction and yet in Europe there is zero growth yet they tell us we are many,” Archbishop Kivuva said, adding that the foreign organizers of the summit “tell us we are poor because we are many. That is a lie! We are poor because they took and still take our resources. Look at DR Congo, with all the minerals it should be the richest country.”

Bishop Charles Kasonde of Solwezi, chairman of the  Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa, described Africa’s population as “doing good” and “moderate”.

“In terms of population, it is poverty that drags us down otherwise as the population for Africa we are sparsely populated,” Bishop Kasonde of Solwezi told ACI Africa.

To counter the agenda of the Nairobi Summit, the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum, with the backing of Kenya’s bishops, has organized a parallel convention to be held Nov. 11-14.

 

 

A version of this story was initially reported by CNA’s sister agency, ACI Africa. It has been adapted by CNA.

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