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Moroccan court acquitted two women who faced charges of “gross indecency” for wearing dresses in public, their lawyer said Monday, after their case sparked a national outcry, according to Africanspotlight.com.

“This is a victory not only for these two women but for all members of civil society who mobilised,” said defence attorney Houcine Bekkar Sbai.
Fouzia Assouli, head of the LDDF women’s rights organisation, confirmed the acquittals handed down by a court in the southern city of Agadir.

“This acquittal is positive and shows that wearing this type of clothing (a dress) is not a crime,” Assouli told AFP.

The women, hairdressers aged 23 and 29, were arrested on June 16 as they strolled through the open-air market in Inezgane, a suburb of Agadir, on their way to work, Merchants accused them of wearing flimsy and “immoral” clothes, surrounded and heckled them, media reported at the time.

Their case sparked an outcry in Morocco, where supporters of the two women held rallies denouncing their arrest and demanding their release, requests echoed in a petition that circulated online.