The Saad Lamjarred case is causing quite a stir on Moroccan social media sites, with the singer’s celebrities and fans who defend him and detractors engaging in heated discussions in the wake of his conviction on rape-related charges.

On Thursday, Saad Lmajarred was found guilty of aggravated rape and given a six-year prison sentence. Almost immediately, two diametrically opposed camps of Moroccan commenters—particularly those who were fellow celebrities and singers—took to social media to either condemn Lamajarred or—mostly—to express solidarity and support.

Some of his supporters question the Paris court’s decision finding him guilty of sexual assault, claiming the rape accusations are unfounded.

Dunia Batma, a Moroccan singer who was found guilty of blackmail in 2021 and was given a one-year prison sentence, posted on Instagram today expressing her prayers for Lamjarred and her outrage at Laura Prioul, the French woman whose complaint led to Lamjarred’s trial.

“Not sure exactly what to say… My brother Saad, his parents, and his supporters are in my prayers. We support you and eagerly await your return,” Batma wrote before expressing her outrage over Lamjarred’s French victim.

Saad Lamjarred has previously been charged with rape. The singer was accused of rape for the first time by an American woman in 2010, and in 2016 and 2018 he was accused of rape in France.

Lamjarred has ten days to file an appeal against the Paris court’s decision to sentence him to a six-year prison term. The 2018 case is still under investigation, while the 2016 sexual assault case has a verdict.

Hatim Ammor, another Moroccan musician, also posted on Instagram to show support for the 33-year-old singer who is currently incarcerated.

Ammor wrote on his Instagram page alongside a photo of him and Lamjarred, “The eye tears and the heart mourns, and we are very sad over the ordeal. I ask God to give you perseverance and fortitude.

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While the majority of celebrities who commented on the post appeared to believe Lamjarred is innocent, some took a slightly different stance and suggested that he might have made a mistake. Mariam Hussein, a Moroccan actress, appeared to take issue with the victim in an Instagram post and responded, “God is all forgiving.”

After accompanying a male celebrity to his hotel room “after a night of partying,” Laura Prioul, the French woman who accused Lamjarred of raping her there, should have anticipated “nothing less.”

The Moroccan actress appeared to contend throughout the remainder of her post that the case against Lamjarred might be a straightforward political plot intended to end his career.

A six-year prison sentence is not enough 

The verdict was praised as just by many Moroccans, who expressed regret that Lamjarred would only serve six years instead of the “much deserved” 20.

Someone from Morocco who uses Twitter posted a video claiming that those who continue to support Saad Lamjarred are actually “mentally enslaved.”

Others who use social media to communicate expressed support for the prison term, tweeting: “Saad Lamjarred finally going to rot in jail? in addition to six years? For times like THIS, we prayed.

Some particularly incensed social media users went so far as to accuse some of Lamjarred’s supporters of complicity in what they described as rape culture in order to express their outrage at the disgraced singer.

This group of critics claimed that Moroccan celebrities supporting Lamjarred was an attempt to normalize rape. One tweeted: “Moroccan artists supporting Saad Lamjarred because they are also rapists.”

Read Also: Saad Lamjarred: the singer sentenced to 6 years in prison

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Saad Lamjarred was sentenced, on Friday 24 February 2023, to 6 years in prison for rape in the case between the Moroccan singer and a young French woman, accusing him of rape in a Parisian hotel in 2016, local media reported.

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The verdict fell for the Moroccan pop star who was found guilty of the facts of which she is accused. Tried since 20 February at the assizes in Paris for facts dating back to 26 October 2016, Saad Lamjarred will have to serve a sentence of 6 years. He was acquitted, however, for the voluntary violence. The star has 10 days to appeal.

A committal order has been issued, so Saad Lamjarred will be detained immediately. The day before the verdict, a sentence of 7 years imprisonment was requested on Thursday 23 February against the singer. The public prosecutor Jean-Christophe Muller had also asked for a five-year ban from the country.

Read Also: Lamjarred rape trial in Paris: the public reacts to the artists’ claims of innocence

The post Saad Lamjarred: the singer sentenced to 6 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.

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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.

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