Disabled woman is sexually assaulted on a bus in Morocco in front of passengers and driver who did nothing to prevent the attack
- Six boys aged 15 to 17 have been arrested over sexual attack on a bus
- Video shows the teens molesting woman with learning difficulties
- The victim can be seen crying and screaming as others fail to help her
- Two thirds of Moroccan woman say they have been the victim of abuse
A video of a young woman being sexually assaulted by a gang of teenage boys on a bus in Casablanca has sparked outrage in Morocco, reigniting a bitter debate about violence against women in the Muslim country.
The video, which was posted on social media on Sunday, shows four boys molesting a woman while laughing, tearing her clothes off and insulting her in Arabic.
The woman – who the authorities said had learning difficulties – is seen in tears, crying for help, while neither the bus driver nor any of the passengers intervene.
“In the video, the young girl’s helpless cries pierce through the cruel laughter of her assailants. Desperately trying to free herself from the merciless grasps of her attackers, the girl is pulled left and right, her shirt and pants pushed down to denude her flesh,” reports Morocco World News, adding:
Like a wolf pack, her attackers tore into her body under the penetrating gaze of a phone camera carried by one of the monsters, making sure to document their heinous crime.
The girl screams again and again, desperate for a helping hand, but only finding the vicious ones that brutally violate her body. Her aggressors, groping her chest, try to push a rag in her mouth to silence her cries.
By the end of the video, a man is heard telling the teenagers to “get away from her,” without appearing in the video or trying to physically intervene to stop the aggression.
Throughout the whole ordeal, the bus continues to roll, the driver impassive to what’s happening behind his seat.
In an interview with Morocco World News, Fouzia Assouli, head of the Moroccan Federation of the Democratic League of Women’s Rights, said that the video depicts a level of cruelty that she has never come across before.
“This is unbelievable! It looks like we’re living in the jungle now, because this is not sexual harassment, this is gang rape in a public space in front of everyone!” she said, exasperated.
Assouli went on to condemn what she sees as an incompetent state authority that fails to protect its women. “What does it mean to have a State exactly? Isn’t the government supposed to assure the security of its citizens?!,” she asked rhetorically. “What does it mean to have people witnessing such a crime without moving a finger?”
While the indifference of the crowd shown in the video has sent shockwaves down the spine of Moroccan civil society, police managed to track down the rapists shortly after the incident.
“Six teenage suspects were arrested in Morocco on Monday after video footage of young men reportedly sexually molesting a woman on a bus caused widespread outrage on social networks,” confirms Al Arabiya News.
While the video sparked widespread condemnation on social and local media, some users accused the woman of having ‘provoked the men with indecent clothing’.
One man wrote on Facebook that ‘I condemn the act but cover yourselves up, this one was easy to undress.’
Moroccan charity Don’t Touch My Child called for any witnesses to come forward ‘to bring to justice this barbaric horde who shamefully attacked a young women’.
Public transport company M’Dina Bus condemned the incident and said it was collaborating with authorities in the north African kingdom, which is trying to attract investors and tourists by presenting itself as a safe haven.
source: dailymail, dailywire
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