Moroccan Singer Saad Lamjarred, convicted of rape in Paris, sentenced to 6 years
By: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- A Paris court convicted Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred of rape and assault charges on Friday, February 24, and sentenced him to six years in prison.
The 37-year-old Lamjarred, who is famous on the Arab pop music scene, had been tried on charges of aggravated rape and assault since Monday.
A six-member jury and three magistrates spent seven hours deliberating before the singer was found guilty of raping a French woman at a luxury hotel on the Champs-Elysees in October 2016 while he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine.
The singer denied the allegations of rape and assault. He acknowledged on the first day of the trial that he “occasionally” used alcohol and drugs at the time but said he had since stopped. However, the hotel staff, on their part, reported that a young woman wearing a torn shirt had come to them “crying and feeling terrified” and that they had arrested a drunken man who was chasing her.
Lamjarred had previously been imprisoned in 2017 and forced to wear an electronic bracelet to monitor his movements. In 2018, he was imprisoned again after being accused of raping another young woman in the French town of Saint-Tropez.
