Hard-up hoteliers want Morocco to legalise premarital sex

IT IS BAD enough that the pandemic cut the number of foreign tourists by 80%; to make matters even worse, Morocco’s ban on extramarital sex is stifling the domestic market in hotel beds. Unmarried couples caught in the same room are liable to jail terms of up to a year under Article 490 of the penal code. Each week the police check hotel records to uphold the law. Receptionists-turned-private detectives require verification of marriage certificates before handing over the keys. “I get more calls from unmarried couples wanting to stay than anyone else,” says Meryem Zniber, who runs a resort in the Rif mountains. “I could fill my hotel 100% if only they’d lift the law.”Hopes of change rose after the Islamist party heading the government crashed in elections in September, losing 90% of its seats. For a decade its leaders had squelched any policy deemed , or contrary to Islamic law. Aziz Akhannouch, the new prime minister, sounds more liberal. His government recently said it would review the entire penal code. But he has left out of his coalition the only party that publicly calls for Article 490 to be repealed.