THE INVISIBLE GIRL
In Morocco, a 14-year-old maid is abused and killed by the family for whom she works. The cruel murder reveals the uneasiness of a two-class society. A search for the background.
The murder of a 14-year-old maid in Morocco: for two years young Fatima was subjected to unimaginably cruel treatment in the household where she worked, and was eventually killed. The lady of the house – a teacher and mother of two children – was convicted of the crime and serves a prison sentence. But many of the grue- some details cast doubt on whether the sole guilt really lays with her. Fatima’s parents desperately try to find out what really happened. We take a look at two opposing worlds of Moroccan society: the archaic, village world where the servants come from, offering no prospects and virtually no rights, contrasted with the world of urban social climbers. The legal aftermath and consequences of this murder form the interface that connects the village and urban protagonists – an unruly entanglement loaded with unease. The murder of Fatima and the subsequent covering up of the background to it caused a major furore in Morocco. However, had Fatima’s torture ordeal not ended in her death, the fact that an under-age girl was being held like a slave right in the centre of Agadir would have virtually gone unnoticed by the public at large.