Morocco Won't Let Rapists Marry Victims to Escape Penalty

The high-profile suicide of a Moroccan teenager forced to marry the man who raped her is leading to a change in law, reports AP. The government plans to amend the penal code so that rapists will no longer be able to avoid prosecution by marrying their under-age victims. In last year's case, the parents of 16-year-old Amina al-Filali agreed to a judge's suggestion that she wed the 23-year-old assailant because they thought it would protect the family's honor. Amina poisoned herself seven months after the wedding.

"Changing this article is a good thing but it doesn't meet all of our demands," says the president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. "The penal code has to be totally reformed because it contains many provisions that discriminate against women and doesn't protect women against violence." (More Morocco stories.)