French judiciary shocks 'Al-Mu'allim'... 5 years in prison for Saad Lamjarred in the Saint-Tropez case

SadaNews - The Criminal Court in the city of Draguignan, in southern France, has sentenced Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred to five years in prison after finding him guilty of raping a young French woman in the tourist town of "Saint-Tropez," marking a new chapter in the series of judicial crises that are threatening his remarkable artistic career in the Arab world.

The verdict was issued at the conclusion of a trial held in complete secrecy, conducted behind closed doors at the request of the plaintiff, a procedure that French law automatically allows in sexual assault cases to protect the victims' privacy.

Although the French public prosecution sought a harsh sentence of up to ten years in prison for the 41-year-old artist, the court limited the penalty to half the requested duration, ordering him to pay 30,000 euros in compensation to the victim, in addition to 5,000 euros to cover legal fees. Lamjarred appeared before the court on temporary release, and the judge did not issue an immediate order for him to be jailed, allowing him to leave the courtroom with his family amidst an atmosphere filled with tears, where he was seen comforting his wife and mother-in-law immediately after the conviction was announced.

Details of the Controversial Summer Night

This case dates back to August 2018 when the victim, who was then working as a waitress in one of the clubs in Saint-Tropez, met the Moroccan star, before the events escalated and she ended up in his hotel room.

According to the victim's testimony before the investigators, she was assaulted and physically harmed inside the room, unable to resist due to the shock, a narrative supported by the testimony of one of her close friends, who stated that she saw the girl immediately after the incident in a state of complete psychological and physical breakdown.

In contrast, Lamjarred has consistently denied the charges against him throughout the investigation and trial, insisting that the intimate relationship was consensual and that the victim entered his room of her own free will.

The Suspended Parisian Record and Extortion War

This judicial ruling is not the first shock in Al-Mu'allim's career but adds to a long record of legal pursuits both inside and outside France; Lamjarred faces a previous six-year prison sentence issued by the Criminal Court in Paris in 2023 after being convicted of a similar assault on another young French woman in a Parisian hotel dating back to 2016. This Parisian case is still pending in the appellate courts, awaiting a final decision, after the case witnessed additional legal complications involving the conviction of five individuals from the first victim's circle for attempting to extort the Moroccan artist, demanding three million euros in exchange for withdrawing the complaint and refraining from testifying.

International Pursuits and the Dark Tunnel of His Career

Lamjarred's judicial history extends beyond French borders, with his first international pursuits beginning in the United States, specifically in New York in 2010, when he faced charges of sexual and physical assault against an American woman and left the U.S. before the verdict was issued. The pursuit remained in place until 2016 when the criminal case was dropped following a massive financial settlement outside the judicial framework.

He also faced a similar pursuit in his hometown in Morocco in 2015 following allegations from a Moroccan-French girl, which ended with the victim retracting her complaint due to social and family pressures, placing the artist's future today in a dark tunnel amid a buildup of criminal rulings against him.