Morocco sentences Algerian child accused of rape to prison

The Court of Appeal in Aghadir in Morocco Monday supported a sentence against an Algerian young man accused of raping a Moroccan minor.

Islem Khoualed was sentenced to a year in prison and 400,000 Moroccan Dirhems fine. His Moroccan lawyer Mohamed Chahbi was for the sentence and described it as “fair and moderate.”

He criticized Algeria’s press for giving a bad image of Morocco.

Khoualed’s Algerian lawyer Khaled Selam defended the Algerian press, denying Chahbi’s allegations.

The Moroccan lawyer was supposed to defend Khoualed but he washed hands of the case.

Khoualed, 15, has been jailed in Morocco for three months. He was shocked by the sentence and kept saying “I do not want to stay here (Morocco). I want to go to Algeria.”

His father Azzedine said he did not expect such a sentence. “The Algerian foreign ministry reassured me and promised me to free Islem,” he told Echorouk on the phone.

“The Moroccan lawyer Mohamed Chahbi is contradictory person. He was supposed to defend Islem. I felt that he is the Moroccan child’s lawyer and not Islem’s,” he added.