Double punishment for violating the right to image in the light of Moroccan law

Abstract

The right to image is one of the most important rights that fall within the elements of private life. It has been subjected to serious violations today due to technological development and the wide spread of media and social media, which has prompted various comparative and national legislations to enact criminal and civil penalties related to the violation of this right.
This research aims to discuss the criminal penalty for infringement of the right to image and compensation as a civil penalty for infringement in light of Moroccan law, based on an analytical and critical approach to the contents of legal texts and the national experience with foreign counterparts.
It was found that the criminal sanction under Law No. 13-103 and the civil sanction under the Press and Publication Code constitute one of the main guarantees adopted by the national experience in order to establish the protection of the right to image by adopting a criminal and punitive policy while trying to reconcile individual rights and freedoms on the one hand and requiring the right of the state to punish on the other hand. By analyzing the contents of the texts regulating it, it is clear that there are still some points that make the protection of this right insufficient.
The study recommends that the Moroccan national legislator, as well as comparative legislators, to intervene through legal reviews and amendments within the framework of the criminal code, represented by the draft Code of Criminal Procedure, and within the framework of the Civil Code, by drawing clear parameters of compensation to provide a wider scope of protection.