[citation needed] On 23 August 2009,[2] along with her friend Zineb El Rhazoui, she co-founded the Mouvement alternatif pour les libertés individuelles (MALI), a movement to defend individual freedoms in Morocco.

[2] Aside from many supportive messages, the online announcement also quickly attracted hostility from Islamists, who posted insults and death threats against the participants, such as: "We know how you look.

Yet, as they arrived to the train station, they were instantly accosted by a crowd of about 100 police officers and Auxiliaires, and many journalists who knew about the event on Facebook.

[2] The weekly magazine TelQuel, published an editorial calling the fierce reaction a sign Morocco has lost its culture of tolerance.

[6] Ibtissam was also one of the organizers of the public kiss-in that took place on October 12, 2013, to support three teenagers arrested for posting a picture of themselves kissing on Facebook.

The kissing case has sparked uproar online, with citizens protesting against what they see as creeping conservatism in the Muslim country long known for being relatively liberal and tolerant.

[8] The goal was to make a symbolic statement about the lack of sexual and reproductive health and rights for women in Morocco, many of whom have unwanted pregnancies, which may only be aborted when the woman's life is in danger, not in any other circumstances including rape.

[8] Indeed, on 4 October, a warship was sent to block the boat – and all other traffic – from entering the port of Smir, located between Tétouan and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

[12] In May 2015, King Mohammed VI of Morocco decided to allow women to terminate their pregnancies if these were the result of rape or incest, or if the foetus was malformed.