The Rabat Court of Appeal has doubled the initial sentences in the case of a 12-year-old rape victim who was repeatedly attacked in Tiflet by three men. Two of the rapists received 10 years in jail each, while the third, who is also the victim’s child’s father, received a 20-year sentence.

The guilty parties, who were aged 25, 32, and 37, received sentences ranging from 18 months to 2 years, a decision that provoked widespread outrage throughout the Kingdom due to its leniency in light of the gravity of the crime.

More than six hours were spent in court on Thursday hearing testimony from the young Sana, a witness who was there at the rape (the parent of one of the accused), and the witness’s witness.

The victim’s attorney, Abdelfattah Zahrach, stated that “the King’s Prosecutor has submitted a request for confidentiality of the hearing of the child, in consideration of her best interests.”

But, he regretted, this ought to have been done just during the victim’s hearing phase, with the rest of the proceedings open to the public.

Instead, we requested that the media be permitted to follow the trial’s progress because of the case’s ugliness and heinousness while maintaining the presumption of innocence and the requirements for a fair trial.

The accused’s attorney, Abdelhak Halhouli, responded, saying: “We must wait to see what the legal system will rule in this case, not just on appeal but also in cassation. We anticipate that the case’s conclusion will be reasonable and in line with reality.

The lawyer of the defendants defended the innocence of his clients, stating: “We appealed the verdict, since the defendants have denied the charges against them, whether before the judicial police, the investigating judge or the court of first instance.”

Read Also: Minister Jazouli leads roadshow to speed up Chinese investment in Morocco

The post Rabat Court of Appeal condemns 11-year-old rapists to 10 to 20 years in prison appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

Many Moroccans are now following Saad Lamjarred ‘s rape trial in Paris, which is being live tweeted by French journalist Marion Dubreuil as they grow more and more disenchanted with the artist.

Dubreuil, a judicial journalist, set up a Twitter thread where she live-tweets the trial, reporting all of the Moroccan artist’s claims.

The tweet in issue gained a lot of attention because the journalist cited Saad as saying that he is from the middle class and that he traveled to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue his studies.

The notion that the son of two of Morocco’s most well-known artists, Bachir Abdou and Nezha Regruari, is attempting to pass as “middle class,” has incensed Moroccans, who have flocked to Twitter to express their fury.

The artist didn’t complete high school because “he chose to follow his goals,” according to the same Twitter post.

Many didn’t like how Lamjarred, who was accompanied by a translator, kept bouncing between French and English when responding to questions and steadfastly avoided bringing up his prior rape case in the United States.

He wants to concentrate on today’s trial, according to his attorney.

According to the journalist’s tweets, Lamjarred discussed how Ghita Allaki, whom he married in September 2022, had been by his side for many years and had supported him through everything while he built his career.

Saad revealed that his music generates between 10,000 and 15,000 US dollars per month in his current source of income. The artist went on and on about how, over the past few years, this looming trial has impacted his life, profession, and those around him.

Lamjarred indicated that he had experienced recent suffering from the effects of this accusation, as well as from great pressures that reached the point of depression, but he tried to fight it when he stated during his appearance before the judge that he had waited seven years to be able to talk about the condition that had hurt him and his loved ones.

The artist declared, “The theme of my song is love,” but many people in the audience criticized this claim. Some of Lamjarred’s lyrics from the songs “Ghaltana” and “Enty,” which both have an unloving tone toward a fictitious woman and depict arguments between a man and a woman, were uploaded on Twitter by users.

The songs are explicit, as Lamjarred blames the female for certain things in the first song, and criticizes her standards in the second.

When his wife took the stand as a witness to the case, being his previous assistant and life long best friend, she explained that “the person I have been with for a long time is incapable of committing what he’s being accused of.”

Lamjarred, who admitted to cocaine use and drinking alcohol “occasionally back in the day,” strictly denied the rape charges filed by Laura B.

His wife said that she was aware of her husband’s drug use,  adding that she knew that he was innocent, and she had listened to his version of the matter, and she was completely convinced of his words and that he did not commit the acts attributed to him.

Read Also: Eight crew members rescued following a ship incident in M’diq

Lamjarred has a significant fan base in Morocco and was long regarded as the Arab starlet, dominating the Middle East and North Africa with his numerous, successful releases.

After the initial complaint surfaced, many admirers defended the Moroccan musician. However, when more women came forward to support Lamjarred, and as news spread that he was facing yet another rape accusation in the United States, where he was living, more people began to believe the allegations.

Up until Friday, the trial is planned to go on.

The post Lamjarred rape trial in Paris: the public reacts to the artists’ claims of innocence appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.