Moroccan authorities have arrested activist Ibdissam Lahgar after she posted a photo with an offensive reference to Allah.

In the photo Lahgar posted on X, the phrase “Allah is a lesbian” was written on the T-shirt she was wearing.

The Rabat District Court prosecutor’s office announced that the activist was taken into police custody on Sunday, with her saying she had received threats, including threats of stoning.

Lachgar accompanied her post with the comment:

“In Morocco, I walk around wearing T-shirts with messages against religions, against Islam, etc. We’re tired of your hypocrisy and your accusations. Yes, Islam—like any religious ideology—is FASCIST, PHALLOCRATIC, and MISOGYNISTIC.”

Lachgar has organized numerous demonstrations in Morocco for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ issues, and against male violence. She also founded the Mouvement alternatif pour les libertés individuelles (MALI), which campaigns, among other things, for the right to abortion and same-sex marriage.

According to a Facebook post she made, after July 31—when she published the controversial photo—she became the target of “cyberbullying, thousands of rape and death threats, as well as calls for lynching and stoning.”

In one of the messages the activist shared, the following was written:

“Our country is in danger. This woman named Ibtissem Lachgar is currently free. She was born in Rabat and lives in Morocco. She is a feminist activist, a republican, a supporter of secularism, and openly Islamophobic. Her freedom is an insult to all Moroccans. She alone is an insult to all our martyrs and ancestors who fought proudly in the path of Allah to make this country what it is today. The authorities have not yet arrested her, and this is unacceptable. We cannot leave such an act unpunished. There is nothing more sacred to Moroccans than Allah, than Islam. This woman’s place is behind bars.”

Moroccan activist arrested for wearing T-shirt reading “Allah is a lesbian” – Faces threats of stoning
Some of the threatening messages received by the activist from Morocco.