The Var Assize Court in Draguignan sentenced Moroccan singer-songwriter Saad Lamjarred to five years in prison on Friday for raping a young woman he met in 2018 in Saint Tropez.
While Lamjarred consistently claimed throughout the trial that the encounter at was consensual, the jury ultimately found him guilty.
The verdict came after a week-long trial held behind closed doors at the victim's request. Because Lamjarred attended the proceedings as a free man, the court chose not to issue an immediate arrest warrant, leaving him free for now despite the conviction.
He was also ordered to pay the victim €30,000 in damages and €5,000 in legal fees.
Lamjarred broke down in tears after hearing the verdict and embraced his wife and mother-in-law in court.
The case dates back to August 2018, when the young woman met Lamjarred while working as a waitress in a nightclub in Saint-Tropez.
She accused Lamjarred of rape after accompanying him to his hotel room, saying she had only agreed to have a drink.
During the investigation, Lamjarred maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual.
Although prosecutors had been inclined to dismiss the case earlier, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal confirmed in 2021 that Lamjarred should stand trial, emphasizing that entering a man’s hotel room did not automatically imply consent.
Lamjarred had already been sentenced in 2023 to six years in prison for the rape of a young woman he met in a Paris nightclub in 2016, a conviction he continues to deny.
The appeal trial in that case, initially scheduled for June 2025 in Créteil, was postponed after relatives of the complainant allegedly attempted to monetize her silence.
The 41-year-old is one of Morocco’s most popular musicians, with several of his tracks garnering hundreds of millions of views and reaching international charts.
King Mohammed VI of Morocco awarded him the highest national honor in 2015.
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