Rabat, Morocco (TMT)- Morocco’s Minister of Justice and Liberties, Mustapha Ramid said in the wake of the “Forum of Dignity,” an event where he was invited to speak at as a guest of honor, that people who “break the fast in public do not bother him at all.”
“It is a personal matter,” Morocco’s Minister of Justice said.
“This only concerns the individual and his Creator,” Ramid stressed.
Nevertheless, Ramid defended Morocco’s Penal code criminalizing the breaking of the fast in public during Ramadan.
“In Morocco, some people may commit all kinds of vices prohibited in Islam [having sex, drinking alcohol…]but they will not accept that someone breaks the fast in their presence,” Ramid said.
“This is why the authorities intervene. Otherwise, if that act [of eating in public during Ramadan] is decriminalized, some citizens may react violently,” meaning that they may assault the one who broke the fast.
It is worth mentioning that article 222 of the current Moroccan Penal Code states that “a person commonly known to be Muslim, who violates the fast in a public place during Ramadan, without having one of the justifications allowed by Islam [such as travelling or sickness, pregnant woman…..] shall be sentenced from one to six months in jail. The person will be also subject to a fine ranging from 12 to 120 Dirhams.”
The Moroccan Times.
