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| [Image that landed the teenagers from Nador in jail.] |
During the beginning of this month, two teenagers from the
northern city of Nador were arrested
for uploading an image of them kissing one another. The two teenagers and a
male friend, presumably the one who took the picture, face charges of “public
indecency.” After they were held in a juvenile detention center, the teenagers’
trial was postponed on 12 October 2013 until 22 November. The defense attorney cited
the pursuit of “an inquiry into the social circumstances of the teenagers” as
the reason for the trial’s delay. In reaction to the arrest of these teenagers,
a solidarity campaign entitled #FreeBoussa
was launched on social media. The campaign included images of couples kissing
one another and calls for a sit-in, which ended up taking
place in Rabat on 12 October 2013.
Multiple layers embedded in this case and the reaction that
followed merits a deeper reading. Firstly, the arrest of these teenagers was,
first and foremost, a grave violation of their right of expression. With the
public prosecution citing laws relating to “public indecency,” it demonstrates the
role of the state in policing social norms and defining morals along
conservative lines. Secondly, the state’s role as the “social” police is
bolstered by its socioeconomic policies that have marginalized the Rif region,
where the arrest of these teenagers took place (specifically the city of
Nador). The relationship between the state and the inhabitants of the Rif
region, more so than the rest of Morocco, has been rife with a history of
violence, oppression, and deprivation—policies that emerged from under the
reign of Mohammed V, were strengthened under Hassan II, and solidified under
Mohammed VI. Thirdly, the solidarity campaign that grew in response to the
arrest of these teenagers has succeeded in gaining wider media attention and drawing
more scrutiny to the case. To the extent that it has it has acted as a societal
disruption, such as the public kiss-in that took place in Rabat, aspects of the
campaign uncritically embrace liberal views on individual freedoms. Such an
approach, which fails to address the fact that the arrest of these teenagers is
beyond the simple act of kissing, opens the window for more state oppression.
