Collectif 490 (Moroccan Outlaws)

Collectif 490 was created the day after the arrest of journalist Hajar Raissouni for "illegal abortion" and "sex outside marriage", at the end of summer 2019. We mobilized thousands of people around a manifesto entitled the "Manifesto of the 490" in reference to article 490 of the Moroccan Penal Code which punishes sexual relations outside marriage, written by Sonia Terrab and Leila Slimani and which begins as follows: "We, Moroccan citizens, declare that we are outlaws”.

Hajar has since regained his freedom, benefiting from a salutary royal pardon which has instilled a wave of hope in the country. But Morocco remains full of other Hajar… And a movement was born, also carried by Narjis Benazzou, Karima Nadir, Ghizlane Mamouni, Karima Rochdi and all those who have come a long way with us or who have joined us. For us, this is the beginning of the fight towards a simple objective, to change the law to:

- Repeal the articles of the Penal Code which punish with imprisonment acts relating to the exercise of individual freedoms and protected by the constitutional principle of the right to private life: sexual relations outside marriage, voluntary termination of pregnancy, homosexuality; and

- Supervise the right to abortion according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Since then, we have been constantly activating ourselves, with social networks as tools and our community as strength, to open a great national debate in order to change these laws inherited from the protectorate and from which the most fragile Moroccans still suffer on a daily basis. , the humiliations, the pressures and the extortions which result from it…

Our motto: "all outlaws until the law changes!" ".

The 490 collective was awarded the "Simone de Beauvoir Prize for women's freedom" in January 2020 in Paris.