Five years. Lamjarred wept in court after the verdict — but left free. Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday by the Draguignan criminal court for the rape of a young woman he met at a nightclub in Saint-Tropez in August 2018. The trial was held behind closed doors. After a week of proceedings, the prosecution had sought ten years against the 41-year-old singer, who is widely popular across the Arab world. The court did not issue a remand order — Lamjarred had appeared free throughout the trial, and left the courtroom in tears, embracing his wife and mother-in-law after the verdict was read.
In addition to the prison sentence, Lamjarred was ordered to pay the victim €30,000 in damages and €5,000 in legal fees. His attorney, Christian Saint-Palais, declined to comment on the verdict.
What the case involved
The young woman who accused Lamjarred of rape said she had met him at a Saint-Tropez nightclub and agreed only to go to his hotel for a drink — not to have sex. Lamjarred maintained to investigators that the encounter was consensual. In 2021, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal confirmed his referral to the criminal court, noting in particular that entering a man’s hotel room did not automatically constitute consent. Lamjarred had spent three months in pretrial detention in 2018 in connection with the case.
- Source: AFP