Saad Lamjarred sentenced to 10 years on appeal for rape in Paris
Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred has seen his sentence increased on appeal in Créteil: 10 years imprisonment for aggravated rape, compared to 6 years at first instance.
Sentence increased on appeal for singer Saad Lamjarred
Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred was sentenced on Saturday 26 September to ten years imprisonment by the Créteil court of appeal for aggravated rape, according to lefigaro.fr. The sentence is considerably heavier than that handed down at first instance: in 2023, the Paris assize court had sentenced him to six years in prison for the same offences.
The 41-year-old artist, widely followed in Morocco and the Arab world — more than 15 million followers on Instagram and nearly 16 million on YouTube — was found guilty of raping a 20-year-old woman in a Paris hotel room in 2016 after meeting her in a nightclub. The conviction was handed down with a committal order. The public prosecutor's office had requested eight years imprisonment, specifying that the rape was aggravated by the accused's intoxicated state at the time of the offences.
Maître Marie Burguburu, one of Lamjarred's lawyers, announced to Agence France-Presse that an appeal in cassation would be lodged. The artist maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings.
The appeal trial had been held in camera in Créteil, after being postponed in June 2025 to allow for further investigations. Maître David Chemmi, one of two lawyers for the civil party, commented on the severity of the verdict: "This sentence appears to me to be explained in particular by the troubling profile of the accused, but also by the particularly aggressive strategy adopted" towards the complainant. He added that "the systematic challenging of her account, as well as the attacks directed against the investigating officers and experts, were clearly poorly received by the jurors".
This Paris case is not the only judicial proceeding currently underway against Lamjarred. Last May, the assize court of the Var, in Draguignan, sentenced him to five years imprisonment for the rape of a young woman committed in 2018 near Saint-Tropez. He has also appealed this conviction.
Alongside the main case, five people were sentenced in April for attempted extortion against the singer: three million euros had been demanded so that the complaint would be withdrawn and the complainant would not testify before the assize court. Laura P., the victim, had been acquitted, whilst her mother, a lawyer and an influencer were sentenced — along with two other individuals — to sentences ranging from six months to two years imprisonment with suspension.
The singer had furthermore been implicated in similar cases in 2015 in Morocco and in 2010 in the United States, where proceedings for rape and sexual assault were dismissed following a financial settlement with the victim.
Source: Google News LU FR