Moroccan LGBTQ Activist Betty Lachgar Faces 2.5 Years In Prison For Online Post
The outspoken feminist was convicted of blasphemy after sharing a selfie in a T-shirt that read “Allah is a lesbian.”
Featured image: DANIEL PERRON/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
Ibtissam “Betty” Lachgar, a Moroccan feminist and LGBTQ activist known for her confrontational challenges to authority, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison after posting a selfie in a T-shirt that read “Allah is a lesbian.” The ruling, handed down by a Rabat court, also included a $5,000 fine and found her guilty of blasphemy under laws that criminalize perceived insults to religion or the monarchy.
The judgment came just over a month after the post first appeared online. According to her lawyer, Naïma El Guellaf, prosecutors argued that she violated provisions of Morocco’s penal code that protect the monarchy and Islam from criticism. The speed of the proceedings and the severity of the punishment have alarmed human rights groups, who see the case as both punitive and symbolic.
On social media, Lachgar made her position clear: “In Morocco, I walk around with t-shirts bearing messages against religions, Islam, etc. You tire us with your sanctimoniousness, your accusations. Yes, Islam, like any religious ideology, is FASCIST, PHALLOCRATIC and MISOGYNISTIC.”
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By the time she stood in court, Lachgar insisted she meant no religious offense. The shirt, she explained, was meant as a political provocation, not an act of sacrilege. Her legal team argued the statement fell under Morocco’s constitutional protections for freedom of expression.
“God is not only for Muslims, but also for Christians and Jews. I don’t see any offense to Islam in that publication,” El Guellaf told the court. “I am Muslim myself, and I don’t feel offended by it.”
Hamid Sikouk of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights told the AP the ruling crossed a dangerous line: “Not only is this verdict unjust, but it also threatens the freedom of speech and opinion.”
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Lachgar’s public presence in Morocco dates back to 2009, when she helped organize a “Ramadan picnic” in defiance of laws banning the public breaking of the fast. In 2012, she invited the Dutch ship Women on Waves to dock in Morocco to promote access to abortion services, prompting a naval intervention. A year later, she staged a “kiss-in” outside Parliament to support two teenagers prosecuted after posting a photo of themselves kissing on Facebook.
A trained psychologist, Lachgar co-founded the Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms (MALI), a collective that has demanded the legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage, and the decriminalization of sex outside marriage. Each campaign has been met with resistance from Moroccan authorities, and more than once she has been detained.
Souad Brahma, another member of the defense and head of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, warned that the recent ruling reflects a broader erosion of civil liberties in the country.
