Marrakech: French-Algerian influencer sentenced to one year in prison for defaming police
A young woman of French nationality and Algerian origin has been sentenced to twelve months in detention and a financial penalty of 2,000 dirhams by the courts in Marrakech for making defamatory statements against law enforcement.
Marrakech: French-Algerian influencer sentenced to one year in prison for defaming police
A young woman of French nationality and Algerian origin has been sentenced to twelve months in detention and a financial penalty of 2,000 dirhams by the courts in Marrakech. The judgment was handed down on Monday 22 June by the court of first instance in the ochre city. The magistrates found her guilty of making defamatory, insulting statements and damaging to a public institution, as reported by the website lopinion.ma.
The incriminating publications had been posted on her social media profiles during her stay in Marrakech. Known under the username "Yass Naubelle", this 30-year-old content creator was arrested on 13 June at the city's airport as she was about to board a flight to France, according to 20 Minutes. She was subsequently remanded in custody pending trial.
In a clip shared online, she denounced the methods of Moroccan security agents, claiming that they arrested "girls […] for nothing" and that they attempted to extort money during road checks. She also criticised the behaviour of motorists in Marrakech, which she described as "dangerous", whilst maintaining that Algerian drivers were more skilled. She had introduced her remarks with a provocation addressed to her followers: "I want to apologise to my people, the Algerian people. When I say you don't know how to drive I've seen worse than you. The Moroccan people, it's madness, guys".
Followed by approximately twenty thousand people on TikTok, she was tried by the Marrakech correctional tribunal for "dissemination and publication of false allegations and facts with the intent to damage the private life of persons or to defame them" and for "insulting a body established by law". The fine amounts to approximately 190 euros. She retains the possibility of appealing to the court of appeal within a period of ten days.
Source: Google News MA — Crime (fr)