Should going for a walk be legal?
Should listening to music be legal?
Should reading poetry be legal?
Should non-marital sex be legal?
It’s not currently legal in Morocco, and as it turns out it’s not even safe to say it should be.
The editor of Morocco’s Al-Ahdath Al-Maghribia daily newspaper, Moktar el-Ghzioui, is living in fear for his life after he expressed support for pre-marital sex during a local television debate.
“The next thing there was a cleric from Oujda releasing a fatwa that I should die,” he says.
“I am very scared for myself and my family. It’s a real blow to all the modernists who thought Morocco was moving forward.”
According to article 490 of the penal code, Moroccans can be jailed for having sexual relations outside marriage.
This is based on Islamic law, which bans unmarried people from engaging in sexual activity.
And it doesn’t look likely to change any time soon.
Morocco’s Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid, from the newly elected Islamist government, has made it clear that he will not change the law.
“Legalising sex outside marriage is an initiative to promote debauchery,” he said recently.
Define “debauchery.” Then explain what’s wrong with it.