Femicide and domestic violence against women in North Africa are increasingly being reported online and in the media, but rights groups say legal measures to protect victims are still lacking.
In Algeria, at least one woman is killed every week, according to the organization Feminicides Algerie, which has been recording murders since 2019.
On the Tunisian border, femicide rates quadrupled between 2018 and 2023, reaching 25 murders compared to six in 2018, according to NGOs Aswat Nissa and Manara.
The situation is also worrying in Morocco where Stop Feminicides Maroc, another group, has recorded five murders so far this year, with at least 50 cases in 2023 and more than 30 last year.
The latest gender-based killing in Algeria occurred on Monday in the eastern city of Khenchela, where media reports said a 49-year-old man stabbed his 37-year-old wife several times before slitting her throat.
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Imad, who asked not to use a pseudonym, told AFP how his 23-year-old sister was murdered by her husband last year.
A mother of three, she was preparing a meal for the Ramadan fast when she was killed.
“Her husband found her taking selfies with her cellphone while frying some borek (stuffed pastries). He got angry and poured oil on her face and cut her throat,” Imed said.
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His brother-in-law was tried and sentenced to just 10 years in prison for his crime after his lawyer submitted medical records claiming he was suffering from depression, he added.
Farida, a 45-year-old Algerian, who also asked to use a pseudonym for fear of retribution from her ex-husband, told AFP she nearly died when he tried to strangle her with a rope.
“My married life was very unhappy, with beatings and death threats,” said the journalist and mother of four. “He once strangled me with a rope until I collapsed.”
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They eventually divorced, but the husband took custody of the children and threatened to harm them if she filed a complaint, she said.
Femicide “is not a new phenomenon,” Algerian sociologist Yamina Rahou told AFP. “But it has become more visible with social media.”
Rights groups are also raising awareness of women being killed by their husbands or other male relatives, but say the known cases represent only the tip of the iceberg.
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The most recent known assassination attempt in Tunisia took place in late June in the southern region of Gafsa, where a husband is suspected of dousing his wife with gasoline and setting her on fire, according to judicial sources.
The woman survived but was treated for critical injuries while her husband escaped.
In 2017, Tunisia adopted a law aimed at combating gender-based violence, but its implementation has been slow, according to Karima Brini, head of the Tunisian Women and Citizenship group.
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“Cultural barriers” are among the main obstacles, Brini said, noting that Tunisian textbooks continue to describe women as people “whose place is in the kitchen” while men “watch TV”.
Brini and Rahu of Algeria said such views must change.
“We need to sensitize both sexes from a young age about equality, shared responsibility and mutual respect,” particularly through the state-run media, Rahu said.
Relying on the law and law enforcement “wasn’t enough,” he said.
At least 13 death sentences have been handed down in Algeria since 2019 for perpetrators of femicide, but a moratorium on executions means those convicted have been sentenced to life in prison.
Sexual harassment, verbal or psychological aggression and violence against women are also punishable by law in Algeria since 2015.
In Morocco, violence against women has been punishable by law since 2018, but rights groups say it has not changed the reality on the ground where women continue to be victims.
Judges in Morocco “tend to believe that (domestic) violence … is a private matter and therefore the sentences imposed do not provide a sufficient deterrent,” said lawyer Ghislaine Mamouni.
Camelia Echchihab, founder of Stop Feminicides Maroc, said Moroccan laws are a “farce” when it comes to violence against women and called for “more specific” legislation.
In 2023, the brutal murder of a woman who was dismembered and hidden in a refrigerator caused outrage across Morocco.
“The case is symbolic because it shows that there has to be a certain level of horror for journalists to write about it, when in fact all femicides are horrific,” Echchihab said.
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