The aggravation of penalties applicable to certain offences results from circumstances inherent either in the commission of the offence or in the guilt of its perpetrator.
Penal Code
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The law determines these circumstances in connection with certain criminal or delictual offences. SECTION IV RECIDIVISM (Articles 154 to 160)
Any person who, after having been the subject of an irrevocable conviction for a prior offence, commits another, is in a state of legal recidivism under the conditions determined in the articles below.
Any person who, having been sentenced by an irrevocable decision to a criminal penalty, has committed a second crime, whatever its nature, shall be sentenced: To forced residence for a period not exceeding ten years if the penalty prescribed by law for the second crime is civil degradation; To reclusion of five to ten years, if…
Any person who, having been sentenced by an irrevocable decision for a crime to a penalty exceeding one year of imprisonment, has, less than five years after the expiration of that penalty or its prescription, committed a crime or a delict legally punishable by a penalty of imprisonment, shall be sentenced to the maximum of that…
Any person who, having been sentenced by an irrevocable decision for a delict to a penalty of imprisonment, has committed the same delict less than five years after the expiration of that penalty or its prescription, shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment which may not be less than double that previously imposed, without however being able to exceed double the maximum of the penalty legally prescribed for the new offence.
Are considered as constituting the same delict for the determination of recidivism, the offences grouped in one of the paragraphs below: 1° Theft, swindling, breach of trust, abuse of blank signature, issuing a cheque without provision, forgery, use of forgery and fraudulent bankruptcy, receiving things proceeding from a crime o…
Any person who, having been sentenced for a contravention, has, within twelve months of the pronouncement of that conviction decision, which has become irrevocable, committed the same contravention, shall be punished by the aggravated penalties of contraventional recidivism in accordance with the provisions of article 611.
Any person who has been sentenced by a military court shall, in the case of a crime or delict committed subsequently, be liable to the penalties of recidivism only insofar as the conviction was pronounced by the military court for a crime or a delict punishable under ordinary criminal laws. SECTION V CONCURRENCE OF MITIGATING OR AGGRAVATING CAUSES (Articles 161 and 162)
In the event of concurrence of grounds for mitigation and aggravation, the judge shall determine the penalty taking into account successively: 44 - Paragraph completed by Article 2 of Law No. 24-03 aforementioned. 45 - Ibid. - - Aggravating circumstances inherent in the commission of the offence; Aggravating circumstances inhere…
When the guilty party is a minor and the judge decides to apply a penalty in execution of the provisions of Article 517 of the Code of Criminal Procedure46, the reductions or substitutions of penalties provided for in the said article shall be determined on the basis of the penalty as it would have been applicable to an adult of…
The attack against the life or person of the King shall be punishable by death. This attack is never excusable.
The attack against the person of the King, when it has not resulted in infringing his freedom and has caused him neither bloodshed, nor wounds, nor illness, shall be punishable by life imprisonment.
The attack against the life of the Heir to the Throne shall be punishable by death. - -
The attack against the person of the Heir to the Throne shall be punishable by life imprisonment. When it has not resulted in infringing his freedom and has caused him neither bloodshed, nor wounds, nor illness, this attack shall be punishable by imprisonment for 20 to 30 years.
The attack against the life of the members of the royal family shall be punishable by death. The attack against their person shall be punishable by imprisonment for 5 to 20 years. When it has not resulted in infringing their freedom and has caused them neither bloodshed, nor wounds, nor illness, this attack shall be punishable by 2 to 5 years' imprisonment.
For the application of the preceding article, the following shall be considered members of the royal family: the King's ascendants, his descendants in the direct line, his wives, his brothers and their children of both sexes, his sisters and his uncles.
The attack whose purpose is either to destroy or to change the Regime or the order of succession to the Throne, or to cause arms to be taken up against the royal authority, shall be punishable by life imprisonment.
The attack exists as soon as there is a punishable attempt.
In the case where one of the crimes provided for in Articles 163, 165, 167 and 169 has been executed or merely attempted by a gang, the penalties laid down in those articles shall be applied to all individuals, without distinction of rank, who are part of the gang and who have been apprehended at the place of the seditious assem…
The plot against the life or person of the King shall be punishable by life imprisonment if it has been followed by an act committed or commenced to prepare its execution. If it has not been followed by any act committed or commenced to prepare its execution, the penalty shall be imprisonment for five to twenty years.
The plot against the life of the Heir to the Throne shall be punishable in accordance with the preceding article. The plot against the person of the Heir to the Throne shall be punishable by imprisonment for ten to twenty years if it has been followed by an act committed or commenced to prepare its execution. If it has not been…
The plot to achieve one of the ends mentioned in Article 169 shall be punishable by imprisonment for ten to thirty years if it has been followed by an act committed or commenced to prepare its execution. If it has not been followed by any act committed or commenced to prepare its execution, the penalty shall be imprisonment for five to ten years.
There is a plot as soon as the resolution to act is concerted and settled between two or more persons.
The proposal made and not accepted to form a plot against the life or person of the King or of the Heir to the Throne shall be punishable by imprisonment for five to ten years. - -
The proposal made and not accepted to form a plot to achieve one of the ends mentioned in Article 169 shall be punishable by imprisonment for two to five years.
When an individual has alone formed the resolution to commit an attack against the life or person of the King or against the life of the Heir to the Throne and an act to prepare its execution has been committed or commenced by him alone and without assistance, the penalty shall be imprisonment for five to ten years.
Whoever commits a defamation, insult or offence against the person of the King or the person of the Heir to the Throne or a violation of the respect owed to the King shall be punishable by imprisonment from six months to two years and by a fine of 20.000 to 200.000 dirhams, or by only one of these two penalties. Whoever commits…
In cases where, by virtue of one of the articles of this section, only a misdemeanour penalty is incurred, the guilty parties may also be subject, for not less than five years and not more than twenty years, to the prohibition of one or more of the rights mentioned in article 40 of this Code; they may also be subject to a ban on…
Shall, in time of peace or in time of war, be guilty of treason and punished by death: 1° Any Moroccan who bears arms against Morocco; 2° Any Moroccan who maintains intelligence with a foreign authority, with a view to inducing it to undertake hostilities against Morocco, or furnishes it the means to do so, whether by facilitati…
Shall, in time of war, be guilty of treason and punished by death: 1° Any Moroccan who incites soldiers or sailors to enter the service of a foreign authority, facilitates the means thereof for them, or carries out enlistments for an authority at war with Morocco; 2° Any Moroccan who maintains intelligence with a foreign authori…
Shall, in time of peace, be punished by reclusion of five to twenty years, any Moroccan or foreigner who knowingly participates in an enterprise to demoralise the army having as its object to harm national defence.
Shall, in time of peace, be punished by reclusion of five to thirty years, any Moroccan or foreigner who has rendered himself guilty of: 1° Wilful defective workmanship in the manufacture of war material, where such defective workmanship is not likely to cause an accident; 2° Wilful damage to or destruction of material or suppli…
Shall be guilty of espionage and punished by death any foreigner who commits one of the acts referred to in article 181, paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5, and in article 182.
Provocation to commit or the offer to commit one of the crimes referred to in articles 181 to 185 shall be punished as the crime itself.
Shall be deemed secrets of national defence for the application of this Code: 1° Information of a military, diplomatic, economic or industrial nature which, by its nature, must be known only to persons qualified to hold it and must, in the interest of national defence, be kept secret from any other person; 2° Objects, materials,…
Shall be guilty of an attack on the external security of the State: 1° Any Moroccan or foreigner who, by hostile acts not approved by the Government, exposes Morocco to a declaration of - - war; 2° Any Moroccan or foreigner who, by acts not approved by the Government, exposes Moroccans to suffer reprisals. Where the offences pro…
Shall be guilty of an attack on the external security of the State and punished by reclusion of five to thirty years: 1° Any Moroccan or foreigner who, in time of war, maintains, without authorisation from the Government, correspondence or relations with the subjects of a power or the agents of an enemy authority; 2° Any Morocca…
Is guilty of an offence against the external security of the State any Moroccan or foreigner who has undertaken, by any means whatsoever, to impair the integrity of Moroccan territory. Where the offence was committed in time of war, the offender shall be punished by death. Where it was committed in time of peace, the offender shall be punished by reclusion of five to twenty years.
Is guilty of an offence against the external security of the State any person who maintains with the agents of a foreign authority intelligence relations having as their object or having had as their effect to harm the military or diplomatic situation of Morocco. - - Where the offence was committed in time of war, the penalty sh…
Is guilty of an offence against the external security of the State: 1° Any Moroccan or foreigner who, for a purpose other than that of delivering it to a foreign authority or its agents, secures, by any means whatsoever, possession of a secret of the national defence or makes it known, in any form and by any means whatsoever, to…
Is guilty of an offence against the external security of the State: 1° Any Moroccan or foreigner who enters, under a disguise or a false name, or concealing his status or nationality, a fortress, a work, post or arsenal, the works, camps, bivouacs or cantonments of an army, a warship or a merchant vessel used for the national de…
Is guilty of an offence against the external security of the State and punished by imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of 1.000 to 10.000 dirhams any Moroccan or foreigner who, in time of war, knowingly performed an act likely to harm the national defence, other than those listed in the preceding articles. - -
Is guilty of an offence against the external security of the State and punished by imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of 1.000 to 10.000 dirhams any Moroccan or foreigner who, in time of peace, enlists soldiers in Moroccan territory on behalf of a foreign authority. The same penalty shall be applicable to the perpetrator of this offence in time of war, unless the act constitutes a more serious offence.
Independently of the application of article 129 punishing complicity and article 571 punishing handling, the following shall be punished as an accomplice or as a receiver: 1° Any Moroccan or foreigner who, knowing the intentions of the perpetrators of crimes or offences against the external security of the State, supplies them w…
Where, under one of the articles of this Section, only a misdemeanour penalty is incurred, that penalty may be increased up to double in respect of the offences referred to in Articles 188, paragraph 1, 191 and 193. The offenders may, in addition, be sentenced to deprivation of one or more of the rights mentioned in Article 40 o…
Moroccan law shall apply to crimes and misdemeanours against the external security of the State committed within or outside the territory of the Kingdom. Prosecution of offences committed abroad shall not be subject to the conditions provided for in Articles 751 to 756 of the Code of Criminal Procedure48. Attempted misdemeanour shall be punished as the completed misdemeanour.
Confiscation of the object of the crime or misdemeanour and of the objects and instruments used to commit it shall be mandatory, without any need to ascertain whether or not they belong to the convicted person. The remuneration received by the offender, or the amount of its value where the remuneration could not be seized, shall…
The provisions of this Section shall not preclude the application, in the cases provided for by the latter, of the provisions enacted by the codes of military justice for the Army and for the Navy in matters of treason and espionage. 48 - Articles 707 to 712 of Law No. 22.01 concerning criminal procedure, referred to above. - - SECTION III CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS AGAINST THE INTERNAL SECURITY OF THE STATE (Articles 201 to 207)
Any perpetrator of an attack having as its purpose either to incite civil war by arming or inciting inhabitants to arm themselves against one another, or to bring devastation, massacre and pillage to one or more douars or localities, shall be guilty of an offence against the internal security of the State and shall be punished b…