A Moroccan feminist activist, Ibtissame Lachgar, has been taken into custody and says she has received threats of stoning after posting a photograph of herself wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Allah is a lesbian.”
The Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Rabat Court of First Instance confirmed in a statement on Sunday that Lachgar was detained as part of an investigation into the post.
“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 statement read, according to Mail Online.
“Due to its urgency, the subject has been placed under police custody in accordance with the law.”
In the image, the activist can be seen smiling with her hands on her hips.
Lachgar, who is also said to be a developmental psychologist, co-founded the Mouvement alternatif pour les libertés individuelles (MALI), which campaigns for abortion rights, same-sex marriage, and other individual freedoms.
On X (formerly Twitter), she wrote, “Allah is lesbian. This sentence has earned me thousands of sexist insults, rape and death threats, calls for murder, stoning, etc. for 3 days.
“99% come from men. Proud of their misogynistic violence based on a religious framework. defended her actions.”
Defending the post, Lachgar in another post said, “In Morocco, I walk around with T-shirts bearing messages against religions, Islam, etc. You tire us with your sanctimoniousness, your accusations.
“Yes, Islam, like any religious ideology, is FASCIST, PHALLOCRATIC AND MISOGYNISTIC.”
The post, shared on July 31, sparked fierce backlash online. Lachgar later said she had endured three days of “cyber bullying, thousands of threats of rape, death, calls for lynching and stoning.”
One social media user, posting under the handle @moufarrid, called for her arrest, “I ask all of you to kindly share this photo and explain who this person is on WhatsApp, Facebook, etc. Translate for Arabic and Berber speakers if necessary.
“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. Our country must not fear NGOs, international organizations, etc.
“Understand that she is a threat to peace, to Moroccans, to sovereignty. If such a thing goes unpunished, others will seek to do the same. She must serve as an example.
“Every Moroccan has the duty to denounce this; otherwise, you are complicit and cowardly.
“May Allah preserve our people and guide us.”
Under Moroccan law, criticism of Islam, the monarchy, or the country’s territorial integrity is prohibited and can carry prison sentences.
The law also criminalises “employing incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim or to convert him,” punishable by three to six months’ imprisonment and a fine.
In 2007, journalists Driss Ksikes and Sanaa al-Aji received three-year suspended sentences for an article about religious jokes, accused of “defaming Islam and damaging morality.”
Lachgar is known for organising controversial protests, including a 2013 “kiss-in” outside Morocco’s parliament in support of teenagers arrested for posting a kissing photo online, and a 2012 campaign to bring the Dutch “Women on Waves” abortion boat to Moroccan shores, an effort blocked by authorities. Her detention has reignited debates in Morocco over freedom of expression, secularism, and the limits of religious criticism in the public sphere.
