A Moroccan court on Wednesday rejected a bail request for prominent feminist activist Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar, who is facing trial for allegedly “offending Islam,” despite her lawyers warning that her health is in critical condition.
Lachgar, a 50-year-old clinical psychologist and co-founder of the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties (MALI), was arrested earlier this month after posting a photo online of herself wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Allah” in Arabic followed by the phrase “is lesbian.” The post sparked widespread backlash and calls for her prosecution under Morocco’s penal code, which criminalizes offending the Islamic religion.
Appearing in court in Rabat for the first time since her arrest, Lachgar looked fatigued but greeted supporters with a smile, AFP reported. She wore a medical brace on her left arm, which her lawyers say requires urgent surgery next month due to cancer-related complications. Her defense team submitted medical documents and argued that detention could endanger her health, but the court again denied bail.
“She is being treated for cancer and is due to undergo critical surgery in September,” her lawyer Naima El Guellaf told reporters, adding that doctors have warned of the risk of amputation if the procedure is delayed. Another lawyer, Mohamed Khattab, described her health as “critical.”
The trial has been adjourned until September 3, after additional lawyers joined the defense team. El Guellaf also said that Lachgar was being held in isolation and barred from communicating with other detainees.
Lachgar faces up to two years in prison if convicted, with the sentence rising to five years because the alleged offense was made online.
A longtime figure in Morocco’s feminist and secular movements, Lachgar has frequently challenged the country’s conservative laws. In 2009, she co-founded MALI, which drew international attention by organizing a picnic during Ramadan to protest laws against eating in public during fasting hours. She has also campaigned for abortion rights, against gender-based violence, and for protection of children from sexual abuse.
Lachgar has had previous run-ins with authorities, including arrests in 2016 for disturbing public order and in 2018 during a campaign supporting abortion rights, though she was not prosecuted in those cases.
Her latest arrest and continued detention have raised concerns among human rights groups about freedom of expression in Morocco, as well as the treatment of political prisoners with serious medical conditions.
