Today, Friday, the Paris Criminal Court issued a 6-year prison sentence to Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred after he was convicted of raping and beating a young woman in a hotel room in the French capital in October 2016.
After 7 hours of deliberations, the court said that it was satisfied with the evidence provided by the victim, who was convicted of rape, and confirmed in its statement that "the victim described the incident consistently and accurately."
She explained that she based her judgment on the evidence of the young woman and a letter she sent to her friend saying, "I have been raped now," along with the testimonies of the hotel staff in the scene, and the court decided to arrest Lamjarred immediately.
The incident dates back to 7 years ago, when the French young woman, Laura Priolle, accused singer Saad Lamjarred of raping and assaulting her while he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine.
Lamjarred appeared on February 22 before the French court to testify, and denied the rape and assault charges against him, and said, "I am not saying that Laura is lying, but perhaps she was wrong," stressing that he did not rape her and did not have a sexual relationship with her, but he met her from Before, pointing out that she suddenly started a quarrel with him, the cause of which is not known.
"My reaction was very bad, and I regret my reaction to Laura, and I regret that I brutally pushed her face away," Lamjarred continued, adding, "A man should not hit a woman."
He also directly apologized to the complainant in court, saying, "I am sorry for this unintentional violence, I did not mean to make you sad."
recognition
Lamjarred - who attended the trial accompanied by his wife - also admitted during interrogation that he used drugs and alcohol from time to time, but then stopped.
Laura's lawyers welcomed the "important decision in line with reality," according to lawyer Jean-Marc Deskoubis.
As for the defense, Thierry Herzog, one of Saad's lawyers, indicated to Lamjarred that they need to "think" before "taking any decision regarding the next steps" in terms of appealing the verdict or not.
The court said that Lamjarred had respected the conditions of judicial control he had been subject to since 2017, and was not allowed to perform in France, but was allowed to leave the country to attend performances abroad.
As the trial continued to find out the circumstances of the case, which was followed by French media, French newspapers reported that Lamjarred did not miss a single judicial date and respected "the dates of his trial sessions."
On the other hand, Lamjarred's case sparked violent reactions among feminist activists in North Africa and the Middle East, as they campaigned against the singer as part of the "Me Too" (#MeToo) movement, which led to the cancellation of some of his performances, especially in Egypt.
previous accusations
Lamjarred was arrested for the first time on suspicion of beating and raping a woman in New York in 2010, where he was released on bail, and after 6 years he was accused of physically assaulting and raping a young French woman in a hotel in Paris, and he was released on bail with an electronic card in April 2017.
The French newspaper "Le Parisien" also reported that a French-Moroccan woman had alleged that she had been physically assaulted by Lamjarred in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, and said that she had reported the incident to the police, but later withdrew the complaint under pressure from her family.