Free Betty Lachgar
A feminist imprisoned for defying patriarchy — her fight is ours.
Betty Lachgar is behind bars since August 2025
On August 10, 2025, Moroccan feminist and human rights activist Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar was arrested at her home in Rabat by agents of the National Brigade of Judicial Police. Her arrest followed the online circulation of a photo showing her wearing a T-shirt that read “Allah is lesbian.” The image, first published in 2022 on her personal social media, had been shared as a statement of solidarity with two lesbian women executed in Iran. It resurfaced years later, stripped of its context, and triggered a campaign of hate and public denunciation.
In the days that followed, Betty was subjected to cyber harassment, death threats, and calls for her arrest. Former Justice Minister El Mostapha Ramid publicly demanded that she be prosecuted for insulting religion. On August 12, 2025, after 48 hours in police custody, Betty appeared before the Rabat Court of First Instance. The court charged her under article 267-5 of the Moroccan Penal Code, which criminalizes “offense to Islam” with up to five years in prison.
Despite appeals from her lawyer and international observers, Betty was denied provisional release. She remains detained at Salé Prison, in isolation, without access to the specialized medical care she requires. On September 3, 2025, the court sentenced her to thirty months in prison and a 50,000 MAD fine. Rabat appeal court upheld the 30-month sentence on October 6, 2025.
Ibtissame Lachgar is a clinical psychologist, feminist, and co-founder of the MALI Movement, known for pioneering civil actions in Morocco in defense of women’s rights, freedom of thought, and conscience. She is also a cancer survivor living with a disability, requiring ongoing medical treatment for her arm prosthesis. Without it, doctors warn she risks losing her arm.
Her imprisonment and the conditions of her detention have raised serious concerns among Moroccan and international human rights organizations, which condemned her arrest as arbitrary and in violation of the right to freedom of expression. Across the world, activists, feminists, and citizens have rallied behind her under the slogan #FreeBetty.
Sentenced for 2 years and a half for wearing a t-shirt
“I fight for women’s rights everywhere — beyond color, religion or borders.”
— Ibtissame Lachgar
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