Moroccan LGBTQ+ activist faces arm amputation after being jailed over ‘Allah is a lesbian’ T‑shirt

Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar, a prominent Moroccan feminist and LGBTQ+ rights activist, is facing the possible amputation of her left arm after sustaining untreated injuries while serving a prison sentence linked to a controversial T‑shirt.

The 50‑year‑old psychologist and co‑founder of the Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms (MALI) was sentenced in September 2025 to two‑and‑a‑half years in prison after posting a photograph of herself on Facebook wearing a shirt bearing the phrase “Allah is a lesbian”. Moroccan authorities deemed the image “offensive to Islam”, a charge that falls under the country’s strict laws criminalising insults to religion, the monarchy, and threats to territorial integrity.

Lachgar, a bone cancer survivor who has a prosthetic segment between her left shoulder and elbow, reportedly fractured her elbow while imprisoned in Salé, near Rabat. Rights advocates say the injury has gone largely untreated, leaving her in severe pain and risking irreversible damage that may necessitate amputation. According to her legal team, the prosthesis has become dislodged, and she has been provided nothing more than paracetamol despite requiring complex surgery.

Human rights groups have condemned her treatment, raising concerns about prison conditions at Salé, where Amnesty International has previously documented allegations of abuse by guards. Lachgar has allegedly spent six months sleeping on the floor of a cold cell with a broken window, without adequate medical care or access to specialist treatment.

Her imprisonment stems from a July 2025 social‑media post in which she criticised religious conservatism and described Islam, like other religious ideologies, as “fascist, phallocratic and misogynistic”. The post triggered a wave of online abuse, including death and rape threats. She was arrested on 10 August 2025 and swiftly convicted less than five weeks later. 

A petition launched by the advocacy group Avaaz calling for her immediate release has gained hundreds of thousands of signatures, becoming one of the most widely supported campaigns targeting Moroccan authorities in the past decade. Her lawyers argue that the conviction violates both Morocco’s 2011 constitution and international treaties guaranteeing freedom of expression.

As her health continues to deteriorate, pressure is mounting on Moroccan officials to intervene. Her legal team and family maintain that without urgent medical attention, Lachgar may lose her arm - a development they say would amount to a grave injustice resulting directly from her imprisonment.