Morocco: four people arrested for assault of transvestite in Tangier

The suspects, aged 13 to 24, are suspected of being “involved in a case of assault and injuries on the public highway”, according to local media.

Le Monde with AFP

Four people, including three minors, were arrested in Morocco, suspected of having attacked a man dressed as a woman in Tangier and having uttered homophobic insults at her address, local media said on Sunday, November 13. The four suspects, aged 13 to 24, are suspected of being “involved in a case of assault and injuries on the public highway” on Saturday evening on one of the main avenues of the coastal city of Tangier (North), According to the information sites LE360 et al yaoum24.

In a video relayed on Sunday on social networks, a group of young wheels of a man dressed in dress, his wig in hand, uttering homophobic insults. In a second video, we can distinguish the attackers chasing their victim before throwing it to the ground and giving them blows again.

The questions of manners are the subject of strong social pressure in this country torn between religious conservatism and modernity. The Moroccan Criminal Code sanctioned six months to three years in prison “Licual acts or unnatural with an individual of the same sex”. But homosexuality is relatively less repressed than in other countries in the region and the prosecution is not systematic.

In 2019, a matter similar to Marrakech had caused a stir in the kingdom. The video showed a man dressed in dress, handcuffed after a traffic accident, walking barefoot, surrounded by police officers and escorted by a crowd of people who filmed him and insulted him, without reaction of the police. Four police officers had been sanctioned following this case.

/Media reports.