Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred sentenced to six years in prison for rape in Paris

The Paris Assize Court said Friday, February 24 “convinced” that singer Saad Lamjarred raped and beat a young woman in a hotel room in 2016. She sentenced him to six years in prison. The verdict was delivered around 6 p.m. in the silence of a small courtroom yet crowded, curious and fans who had waited all day in the halls of the courthouse.

At the statement of the sentence, the 37-year-old artist, famous throughout the Arab world, got up, pale and without saying a word. For her part, the civil party, Laura P., burst into tears in her mother’s arms.

The president, Frédérique Aline, underlined in her verdict the declarations “variable and evolving” of him who was “massively alcoholic” and under cocaine at the time. As the investigation progressed, he explained that Laura P. was “drunk”although she does not drink alcohol, then that she had wanted to extort money from him, to finally tell the audience that she “must have been wrong”.

Several other rape charges

During this trial, Saad Lamjarred refused to mention the other cases in which he is cited. He will be tried before the Assizes of Var, accused of having raped in his hotel room a young woman met in a nightclub in Saint-Tropez, in 2018.

“I also spoke for all the other victims, I hope it opened their eyes”said Laura P., “relieved to have finally been heard” after the verdict. Saad Lamjarred’s lawyers, Jean-Marc Fédida and Thierry Herzog, did not wish to comment on the outcome of the trial, and must “to reflect on” before deciding on a potential appeal.