Hafsa Boutaher, rape victim of Omar Radi, wrote Wednesday an open letter to call attention to a paradox where the rapist becomes the victim.
A project on this issue was submitted to the European Parliament, an institution believed to be fair and decent.
Omar Radi, the rapist, was arrested and charged in July 2020. He was convicted in 2021, and again in 2022. He was prosecuted for using foreign funding to undermine the internal security of the state and for rape.
The overwhelming feeling of injustice, the feeling that you do not matter pushed Hafsa to write that open letter to call out people and institutions perceiving her rapist, the one who defiled her, as a victim who was not served justice.
Since when a rapist can become a victim? Why is Hafsa’s victim status denied, her voice as an abused woman muffled, and her sufferings ignored?
Hafsa is one of the rare women who had the courage to report her tragedy, despite the pain, the humiliation and the tarnished reputation. But her case was reduced to nothing before her eyes by countries pretending to defend women’s rights.
Hafsa pointed to the European double standards. Radi, though a rapist, is supported by some NGOs and individuals and is used as a card to settle political accounts with Morocco.
She concluded her letter by saying that justice has not yet said its last word and listening to a victim is a top priority in these cases.