The Court of First Instance of Taounate in northern Morocco has sentenced a doctor to one and a half months in prison for allegedly insulting the Quran and the Islamic religion, according to media reports.
The doctor, who works at a health center in the Karia Ba Mohamed commune in the Taounate region, was accused of offending Islam through posts on his Facebook page. He spent the pre-trial in detention at Ain Aïcha Prison before being released last Monday, after the court ruled that “he was not responsible for his actions at the time he made the posts.”
The medical assessment of Professor Saïd Khaliqa from the Regional Center for Mental and Psychological Health in Fes revealed that the doctor suffers from “a schizophrenic disorder, characterized by emotional detachment, lack of concentration, and chronic stress.”
After reviewing the medical findings, the court fined the doctor 10,000 MAD before releasing him.
Both the court and the public prosecutor’s office rejected a request for bail.
According to Article 267 of the Moroccan Penal Code, individuals face potential penalties of six months to two years in prison, along with fines ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 MAD for insulting Islam, the monarchy, or for inciting actions that could harm the territorial integrity of Morocco.