30th March 2026
Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco
49 Queen’s Gate Gardens London SW7 5NE
United Kingdom
Dear Mr Ambassador,
Re: Follow-Up on the Welfare of Ms Ibtissame (“Betty”) Lachgar
We thank you for your letter in response to our correspondence of 22 September 2025 concerning Ms. Ibtissame Lachgar. We understand from Ms. Lachgar’s lawyer Gelena Mamoney that Betty has had little improvement in the prison conditions she is held in and that medical treatment for her cancer and arm has not been made available to her.
While we are pleased to hear that Ms. Lachgar now has company in her cell, we were concerned to hear she still had no mattress, is not allowed association time in the exercise yard and is losing weight. We would like to know if this is still the case. We fear it is increasingly likely she will need her arm amputating, bearing in mind the surgery timetabled for Sept 2025 was cancelled.
Please add our voices to the many others around the world calling upon you to pressure the Moroccan judicial system to
1. Grant Ms. Lachgar provisional release on medical grounds
2. Bring forward as soon as possible a date for her appeal hearing
3. Ultimately to annul her conviction on the grounds that it is not a crime to express an opinion. Ms. Lachgar had been able to do this freely inside and outside Morocco until she appeared at a feminist event in London in 2025 wearing a t-shirt she has worn at previous events across Europe.
We thank you again for your attention in this matter and look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
B O’Malley & J Raymond
On behalf of Women’s Declaration International UK (WDI UK)
Readers: for more information please see https://linktr.ee/freebetty