Fez — Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred has appeared before the criminal court in Draguignan, southern France, over an alleged rape case dating back to 2018 near Saint-Tropez.
The trial opened today and it took place behind closed doors at the request of the alleged victim. Lamjarred denies the allegation and maintains that the encounter was consensual.
The case centers on a woman who worked as a barmaid near Saint-Tropez. She alleges that Lamjarred raped her after they met in the area. The singer says no rape took place.
The trial had first been scheduled for December 2025, but it was postponed after the presiding judge became ill. It is now one of the most closely watched celebrity trials involving a Moroccan artist in France.
The 2018 Saint-Tropez case
French authorities opened the case after the alleged incident in August 2018. Lamjarred was arrested in Gassin, near Saint-Tropez, and later placed under formal investigation on a rape charge.
At the time, his lawyer said Lamjarred rejected the allegation and described the encounter as consensual. The defense also argued that investigators had not found evidence of a struggle in the hotel room.
The new trial will now decide whether the alleged victim’s account and the evidence are enough to convict him. Until a verdict is reached, the charge remains an allegation in this specific case.
A previous conviction in Paris
The Draguignan trial comes after Lamjarred was already convicted in a separate rape case in Paris.
In February 2023, a Paris court sentenced him to six years in prison for raping and assaulting Laura P., whom he had met at a nightclub in 2016. The court found him guilty of raping her in a hotel room on the Champs-Elysées. Lamjarred denied the accusation during that trial.
That case is still part of a wider legal process because Lamjarred appealed the conviction. The appeal trial was later affected by another case involving alleged extortion linked to Laura P. and people around her.
In April 2026, a Paris criminal court acquitted Laura P. of attempted extortion. She had been accused of trying to demand money in exchange for dropping her allegations or not appearing in court. Five other defendants were convicted in that related case.
Earlier allegations and public backlash
Lamjarred’s legal troubles go back more than a decade.
In 2010, he was accused in New York of beating and raping a woman. That case was later dropped after a financial settlement with the accuser.
He was also linked to another alleged case involving a French-Moroccan woman, who later withdrew her complaint.
These cases have followed Lamjarred for years and shaped the public debate around him. To many fans, he remains one of Morocco’s most successful pop stars. To many critics and feminist activists, his career raises hard questions about celebrity, accountability, and how societies respond to sexual violence allegations.
Lamjarred’s song “Lm3allem” made him one of the best-known Arab pop artists of his generation. The music video passed one billion views on YouTube, giving him a huge audience across Morocco, the Middle East, and the diaspora.
But his concerts have also faced protests. AP reported that feminist activists in North Africa and the Middle East campaigned against him after the allegations, leading to canceled performances in Egypt and elsewhere.
The Draguignan trial now adds another legal chapter to a case that has already lasted years.
