(Ecofin Agency) - In Marrakech, 5 young people were arrested for buying and drinking orange juice on the Jemaa el-Fna square. They could get a sentence of up to 6 months of prison sentence, as stipulated by the Moroccan law: “Whoever, publicly known for his affiliation to the Muslim religion, obviously breaks the fast in a public area during the month of Ramadan, without any reason admissible by the religion”, is liable to one to six months in prison.

Last Monday at midday, the young people, thirsty in a scorching heat of 45 degrees, bought orange juice and were given up by the seller himself.

The incident comes when Moroccan news have been taken up for the past few days by the arrest of two young women guilty of wearing skirts deemed too short in the Agadir market. This comes at a time when the kingdom has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and has passed law project 126-12 endorsing the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (PIRDCP).