The incident of assaulting a young man in front of a residential residence in the capital, Rabat, sparked a wave of angry responses and criticism, due to the violence he was subjected to as a result of the suspicions surrounding him after hosting a young woman who did not know the nature of the relationship he had with her.
The incident brought back to the public debate the issue of rights, freedoms, and guardianship exercised over them by members of society in a manner that contradicts the law, and opens the door to resorting to street justice, or what has come to be known as “the law of the hand.”
A video widely circulated by social media activists showed the young man being beaten by three people, while his escort documented the event by filming it, which prompted the security authorities to interact with the incident and open a search to uncover the circumstances of the assault.
Touch private life
Jurist Abd al-Razzaq Bujanpour, the former coordinator of the Moroccan Coalition for Human Rights Bodies, considered in an interview with the electronic newspaper Hespress that the incident constitutes a “serious violation of the private lives of male and female citizens,” calling on the state to intervene and strike forcefully at the hands of those involved in the catastrophe so that it does not recur.
And Bogenpour stated that “the building guard, the residents, or any other person cannot intervene in this case unless the person concerned causes chaos or behavior that disturbs the comfort of the residents of the residence,” stressing that the people who appeared in the video “replaced the public forces, but rather enforced the law.” with their hands, while they do not know the nature of the relationship between the two young men.
The same human rights activist added, explaining: “I believe that this behavior is illegal, and we may be returning to a time of chaos and street justice, which could lead to the creation of militias within residential residences that take the place of security. I believe that this is a dangerous act and the state must intervene to protect the privacy of citizens, enforce the law and prevent those involved from crossing their borders.”
punish those involved
Boganpour pointed out that what happened was “a new and illegal phenomenon, given that it is not permissible to attack citizens, and even in the event of some abuse by the citizen who buys the shop, the guard or the residents had to resort to the security forces and inform them in order to attend to adjust what happened.” Sign and take the necessary measures,” stressing that “no one has the right to prevent a guest from visiting your home, unless he causes chaos or violates public morals, at which time he can resort to security to carry out his duty and not attack citizens,” in a clear rejection of this type of practices.
From the point of view of sociology, the sociologist Ahmed Sharak saw that such events, which are repeated in Morocco from time to time, show that “traditional logic in Morocco still prevails sometimes, and floats to the surface through such practices, fighting evil from a religious angle in a direct way through what It appears in the society’s imagination that this person is an adulterer or out of the way, who breaks the rules and deviates from the group’s logic, and then he must be punished.”
conventional logic
Sharak recorded in a statement to the electronic newspaper Hespress that traditional logic is “saturated with certain representations, which is unacceptable logic, because there are laws in force that are capable of punishing those who deserve punishment, and not based on suspicion or suspicion.”
And the sociologist himself added, explaining: “We do not know the nature of the relationship of the two young men, whether it is friendship, brotherhood, or neighbourhood, and the overthrow of public opinion as long as one of them enters the house of the other, unless there is a relationship of sex and betrayal outside the scope of social and religious legitimacy,” expressing that these events will remain present in Morocco.
Shirak called for working to educate people more and conduct awareness campaigns, because such practices “do not work to remove the phenomenon.” freedom and security of the people.
isolated phenomenon
Sharak noted that such events remain “an isolated phenomenon and its cultural causes are linked to the tyranny of tradition and representations of social life between the sexes.” He explained that society should be tolerant “as long as the two people did not cause noise, clamor, or clear deviation.”
And the spokesman added, indicating that “some people may deliberately punish such people because of relationships for which there is no evidence,” noting that “religion imposed very strong conditions in order to prove suspicion and action between the sexes, whether in the public street or through solitude.” He also counted these The facts are “sedimentations of puritanical or perhaps extremist mental representations that cause these behaviors that are inconsistent with the law and society.”
