Hajar Raissouni was reportedly arrested on August 31 this year while leaving a clinic in the capital, Rabat. She was then prosecuted and jailed the next month as prosecutors said she was undergoing “late voluntary abortion”.
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Journalist jailed for adultery and aborting her pregnancy has been pardoned
A 28-year-old female journalist slapped with a one-year jail term in September for aborting a pregnancy illegally has been pardoned.
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Her lawyer Saad Sahli, Raissouni rejected the illegal abortion allegation, saying she was undergoing treatment for internal bleeding.
“This trial had no foundation – the accusations were baseless,” defence lawyer Abdelmoula El Marouri is quoted as saying after the verdict.
According to Africafeeds.com, who works for Akhbar Al-Yaoum – an Arabic daily with a history of run-ins with authorities was also sentenced under Article 490 of the legal code of Morocco.
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Journalist jailed for adultery and aborting her pregnancy has been pardoned
Journalist jailed for adultery and aborting her pregnancy has been pardoned
Pulse Ghana
She was accused of having a sexual relationship with a Sudanese fiancé outside of her marriage, an act punishable by the Moroccan laws.
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Both her lover and the gynaecologist who carried out the abortion have also been jailed one and two-years, respectively.
However, the king of Morocco Mohammed VI has pardoned Raissouni.
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The justice ministry of the North African country said on Wednesday that the king’s intervention in the case was “an act of compassion and mercy”.
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