Airline boss divorced from Kuwaiti ambassador jailed for adultery after claims she cheated on him

A Moroccan businesswoman has been handed a two-year prison sentence for adultery after her Kuwaiti ambassador husband accused her of cheating on him.

Hind El-Achchabi, 38, head of luxury charter airline Dalia Air, was convicted of cheating on Sadiq M. Marafi, the Kuwaiti ambassador to Vienna, who had made criminal allegations against her.

Achchabi, who has been held since August according to reports, was alleged to have had an affair with Moroccan businessman Mohsine Karim Bennani.

Marafi filed a lawsuit against Achchabi, accusing her of fraud, corruption and betrayal, in a court in Rabat, which, on Tuesday (28 March) rejected Achchabi's appeal.

The 49-year-old even claimed that one of his daughters is the product of the affair with Bennani, reports Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Rai.

Achchabi and Marafi, who were married in 2007, have reportedly been divorced since September 2014, although she had not accepted official divorce papers, said some reports.

Bennani has already been sentenced and released after he served his seven-month jail term.

According to The Times, Mohamed Faziou, Achchabi's lawyer, said that she had experienced trouble getting her divorce papers from Kuwait. This allegedly led her to fabricate the documents.

Achchabi's sister has also been sentenced to six months in jail for complicity in the use of false documents.

Barred from seeing children

It has been reported by local media that Achchabi is being held in a jail in Salé near Rabat and she has been barred from seeing her children, aged one and two.

"When the children were born they were no longer married," Faziou told Spainish newspaper El Pais. "They were divorced, although they continued to do business together. The relationship with him was only at the business level."

Larabi Elhabbache, of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, said he has attempted to change the draconian laws in his country, reports The Times.

"We have asked so many times to change the laws concerning consensual relationships, that was in vain. Meanwhile domestic violence is still not a crime," he said.

"When we last brought up the issue at a conference we were told this is the penal code. We have no access to parliament to lobby for change."