Woman who was jailed and threatened with stoning for wearing ‘Allah is a lesbian’ T-shirt now faces having arm amputated as health suffers in Moroccan prison

The woman who was jailed and threatened with stoning for wearing a T-shirt saying ‘Allah is a lesbian’ now faces having her arm amputated as her health continues to deteriorate in Moroccan prison.

Ibtissame ‘Betty’ Lachgar, a feminist activist, was jailed last September and sentenced to two and a half years in prison for a Facebook post in which she wore the garment, on the grounds that it was ‘offensive to Islam’.

The 50-year-old campaigner is a bone cancer survivor with a prothesis between her left shoulder and elbow, and has sustained a fractured elbow during her time so far in Salé prison, located on the outskirts of Rabat.

Lachgar’s family and lawyers are calling for her urgent release after learning of a severe deterioration in her health, with doctors warning that without urgent specialist treatment, she will need to have her arm amputated.

The psychologist’s lawyers have argued that her conviction contradicts Morocco’s 2011 Constitution and the country’s obligations under United Nation treaties, protecting freedom of expression.

She has spent the past six months sleeping on the floor with no mattress, in a cold cell with a broken window, according to Avaaz, a US-based nonprofit organisation which launched a petition calling for Lachgar’s immediate release.

One of her lawyers, Ghizlane Mamouni, said: ‘The decline in Ibtissame Lachgar’s health is alarming. Her prosthesis has completely dislodged and she’s only being treated with paracetamol for that and the fractured elbow she has sustained during her detention, despite urgently requiring complex surgery.’

Lachgar wore the T-shirt for a 2022 Facebook post as an act of solidarity with two LGBTQ+ activists in Iran, who were sentenced to death that same year after being accused of promoting homosexuality, promoting Christianity and communicating with media opposed to the Islamic Republic.

Her sister, Siham Lachgar, said: ‘My sister’s health is seriously at risk. This is extremely worrying for her and for our family. She needs very specialist care in France, and without it the consequences could be catastrophic. 

‘This punishment isn’t about her actions, but about what she stands for. It shows that, even today, you can be jailed simply for thinking differently. 

‘Every day she remains behind bars is another injustice to her, and another nail in the coffin of freedom.’

In February, the United Nations established a working group, to examine Lachgar’s case. 

‘Following a woman’s posting of a photo on her social media account, which depicts her wearing a shirt with phrases offensive to the divine, along with a caption insulting Islam, the public prosecutor ordered an investigation,’ the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Rabat Court of First Instance announced last September.

It came after Lachgar re-posted the image of her wearing the T-shirt on X, on July 31, alongside the caption: ‘In Morocco I walk around in t-shirts with messages against religions … You guys are exhausting us with your religious nonsense, your accusations. 

‘Yes, Islam, like any religious ideology, is FASCIST. PHALLOCRATIC AND MISOGYNISTIC.’

Immediately, the T-shirt sparked outrage online, as well as debate, with some accounts showing support for the outspoken feminist. 

Writing on X, Lachgar said she had been subjected to days of ‘cyber bullying, thousands of threats of rape, death, calls for lynching and stoning’.

‘99% come from men. Proud of their misogynistic violence based on a religious frame of reference,’ she wrote.

The activist re-posted some of the religious backlash she had been receiving, including one comment on X by the account @moufarrid, which said: 

‘Our country is in danger; this woman named Ibtissem Lachgar is currently free. She was born in Rabat and currently lives in Morocco. She is a feminist activist, anti-royalist, pro-secularism, and openly Islamophobic. 

‘Her freedom is an insult to all Moroccans. She alone is an insult to all the martyrs, our ancestors who proudly fought in the path of Allah to make this country what it is today. 

‘The authorities have still not apprehended her, and this is unacceptable. We must not let such an act go unpunished. There is nothing more sacred to Moroccans than Allah, than Islam. This woman’s place is behind bars.’

Lachgar – a co-founder of the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties in Morocco – is widely known in the country as an advocate for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. 

For the first five months of her sentence, she was held in solitary confinement, which has taken a severe toll on her mental and physical health, according to Avaaz.

Avaaz – which is part of the ‘Free Betty’ coalition including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other organisations – launched a petition calling for Lachgar release which has already amassed almost 400,000 signatures.

It is the largest petition targeting the Moroccan authorities in the past decade, according to the US nonprofit.

Lawyer Mamouni said: ‘By keeping Betty in solitary confinement, she is being treated like a violent criminal, when her only “crime” is having worn, on European soil, a T-shirt bearing a slogan in support of two Iranian women sentenced to death. 

‘In this, she is the victim of a double injustice – an illegal conviction under the Constitution and international agreements, and detention conditions that, given her disability, are inhumane and degrading.’

Morocco’s 2011 constitution guarantees freedom of expression, and in 1979, the country ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), committing – under Articles 18 and 19 – to uphold freedom of thought, conscience and expression, according to Avaaz.

Lachgar’s other lawyer, Chirinne Ardakani, said: ‘For six months, in blatant violation of international law, Betty has been arbitrarily detained, subjected to inhumane and degrading conditions of detention and deprived of medical care, solely for expressing her freedom of expression and opinion. 

‘Betty is being repressed as much for who she is – a woman, independent and committed to women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights – as for her beliefs.’

Amnesty International has previously claimed prisoners in Salé, where Lachgar is detained, have suffered physical abuse and torture at the hands of guards.

In 2007, Moroccan editor Driss Ksikes and journalist Sanaa al-Aji were handed three-year suspended sentences and ordered to pay fines of $8,000 (£5,900) each after an article they wrote about religious jokes. 

The journalists were accused of ‘defaming Islam and damaging morality’ and were banned from working for the magazine Nichane for two months

In 2013, Lachgar was one of the organisers of a public ‘kiss-in’ in Rabat in support of three teenagers who were arrested for posting a photo of themselves kissing on Facebook.

A boy and girl, aged 15 and 14, alongside their 15-year-old male friend, were charged with ‘violating public decency’ and held in a juvenile centre after posting the photo outside their school in the northern town of Nador, local media reported. 

At the demonstration protesting against conservatism in Moroccan society, the activists locked lips outside the parliament building in the capital city.

In 2012, as part of her pro-choice advocacy, Lachgar invited the Women on Waves’ abortion boat to anchor in Morocco as a symbolic protest against anti-abortion laws.

The boat, purportedly offering medical abortions as well as advice, was manned by a Dutch campaign group who advocate for reproductive rights for women in countries where abortion is not legal.

The boat started its journey from the Netherlands and was scheduled to dock at the port of Smir before it was blocked by authorities.

Melanie Motta, global campaigner at Avaaz, said: ‘Hundreds of thousands of people from 40 different countries are calling for Betty’s release. These are huge numbers, which shows the strength of feeling from an international community of individuals committed to freedom of expression. The world stands with Betty.

‘Wearing a t-shirt is not a crime, and no-one should be jailed for supporting human rights. We call on King Mohammed to free Betty now.’