Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred was sentenced on appeal Saturday to 10 years in prison by a court in Créteil, France, for the aggravated rape of a woman in a Paris hotel room in 2016.
The 41-year-old singer was convicted with an order for immediate imprisonment, according to France’s prosecutor general, which had sought an eight-year sentence.
Lamjarred, one of the most popular Moroccan singers in the Arab world, was originally sentenced to six years in prison by a Paris criminal court in 2023. He has consistently denied the allegations.
His lawyer, Marie Burguburu, told AFP that the defense will appeal the latest ruling to France’s Court of Cassation.
The case concerns Laura P., who was 20 when she met Lamjarred, then 31, at a Paris nightclub in 2016. Prosecutors accused him of raping her later that night in a hotel room. The appeal trial in Créteil was held behind closed doors after it was postponed in June 2025 to allow for additional investigations.
David Chemmi, one of Laura P.’s lawyers, said the 10-year sentence reflected what he described as the singer’s conduct toward the complainant during the proceedings.
“The systematic questioning of her account, as well as attacks directed at investigators and experts, were apparently poorly received by the jurors,” Chemmi told the AFP.
Lamjarred is also facing the consequences of a separate case in southern France. In May, the Var Assize Court in Draguignan sentenced him to five years in prison for the rape of a woman near Saint-Tropez in 2018. He has appealed that conviction.
In the 2016 case, five people were convicted in April in connection with an attempted extortion plot targeting Lamjarred. The group had demanded 3 million euros in exchange for withdrawing the complaint and preventing the complainant from testifying at the trial.
Laura P. was acquitted in that case. Her mother, a lawyer, an influencer and two other people received suspended prison sentences ranging from six months to two years.
Lamjarred has also faced allegations in other countries. He was implicated in a 2015 case in Morocco and in a 2010 case in the United States involving allegations of rape and sexual assault. The U.S. case was closed following a financial settlement with the accuser.
The singer has a large following across social media, with more than 15 million followers on Instagram and nearly 16 million subscribers on YouTube.
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