Saad Lamjarred was sentenced by the Assizes of Paris to six years in prison for aggravated rape. The Moroccan singer has appealed, we learned on Tuesday from his lawyers and from a judicial source. “Given his protestations of innocence, Saad Lamjarred appealed today,” his lawyers Thierry Herzog and Jean-Marc Fedida told AFP.
In its verdict delivered on Friday, the Paris Assize Court said it was “convinced” of the rape, “described in a constant and precise manner” by the civil party, Laura P., since her complaint. She had told the court how Saad Lamjarred, met in a nightclub in October 2016, had raped and hit her in her hotel room.
The artist was imprisoned
The court having issued a warrant of committal, Saad Lamjarred, who appeared free, was imprisoned. “The arrest warrant issued against him was no longer justified since he always respected his judicial control”, also reacted the lawyers of the 37-year-old singer, famous throughout the Arab world.
In Morocco, his conviction has deeply divided Internet users on social networks. His fans and friends maintain that the singer is “innocent” and that Laura P. “looked for him”. Others plead to forgive him while some, conspirators, accuse “racist France”, against a backdrop of diplomatic crisis between Paris and Rabat.
Another rape trial
“I have not yet understood and will not understand this unfair decision against my brother and friend Saad”, writes on his Instagram account a very followed Moroccan animator, Rachid El Idrissi. In response, feminist activists castigated a “normalization of violence against women”. A netizen even suggested criminalizing “apology for rape” as is the case for “apology for terrorism”.
Saad Lamjarred, who will therefore be retried before an Assize Court, was also returned to the Var Assize Court (south) for very similar rape charges, in Saint-Tropez in 2018.