7f2vH5qFw

SHADOW OF IMPUNITYTORTURE IN MOROCCO AND WESTERN SAHARA43said. His family lodged complaints for torture and rape, but neither a medical examinationnor an investigation was ordered. 69The interrogation report, which contained admissions of guilt and implicated other Sahrawiprotesters in criminal offences, was later used to convict Abdelmoutaleb Sarir. On 10September 2014, the Criminal Chamber at the Laayoune Court of Appeals convicted him ofcharges including forming a criminal gang, arson, obstructing a public road, damaging publicproperty, insulting and assaulting security officers, and armed gathering and carryingweapons with the intention to threaten the safety of people and property, and sentenced himto 10 months in prison, upheld on appeal.SEXUAL VIOLENCE AS TORTURERape by state agents, including in custody, is torture.Rape by state officials, including police officers, has been unequivocally defined as torture by internationalcriminal tribunals, 70 as well as by UN and regional human rights bodies. 71 Rape and other forms of sexualassault on women and girls have also been defined as acts of gender-based violence which constitutediscrimination as prohibited by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination againstWomen (CEDAW), to which Morocco is a state party. 72Rape is defined in Article 486 of Morocco’s Penal Code as the act by which “a man has sexual relations with awoman against her will”. It fails to recognize that rape can be perpetrated with objects, and that it goesbeyond vaginal penetration and can be perpetrated on men, as evidenced in this report.In comparison, international standards offer a broader definition, which is also gender-neutral to protect allvictims of rape regardless of their gender and that of the perpetrator. The Rome Statute of the InternationalCriminal Court provides guidance for drafting a new definition in its “Elements of Crimes”:“the perpetrator invaded the body of a person by conduct resulting in penetration, however slight, of any partof the body of the victim or of the perpetrator with a sexual organ, or of the anal or genital opening of thevictim with any object or any other part of the body” and69Amnesty International also accessed a copy of a complaint on torture including rape lodged by hisfather with the General Prosecutor at the Laayoune Court of Appeals on 24 February 2014.70Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, Judgment of 2 September 1998 §687;Prosecutor v. Zejnil Delalic, Case No. IT-96-21, ICTY Trial Chamber II, Judgment of 16 November 1998paras. 475-496, 943, 965; Prosecutor v. Anto Furundzija, Case No. IT-95-17/1-T, ICTY Trial Chamber,Judgment of 10 December 1998 paras 264-9.71Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture to the General Assembly, UN Doc A/55/290(2000) para. 5; Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture, UN Doc.A/HRC/7/3 (2008) paras. 34-6; Aydin v. Turkey, European Court of Human Rights, Reports 1997-VI(57/1996/676/866).72UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 19,Violence against women, UN Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 (1992) para. 23.Index: MDE 29/001/2015 Amnesty International May 2015