French court sentences Saad Lamjarred to ten years in prison

The Court of Appeal in Créteil, on the outskirts of Paris, has concluded a new chapter in the case of Saad Lamjarred, sentencing the Moroccan artist to ten years in prison for the rape of a young French woman in 2016.

This appellate ruling significantly increases the original six-year sentence handed down in 2023 by the Paris Criminal Court, following a high-profile trial that took place behind closed doors.

The court ordered the artist’s immediate imprisonment for aggravated rape, exceeding the prosecution’s recommendation of an eight-year sentence.

In response, the artist’s defense team announced their intention to appeal to the Court of Cassation, maintaining their client’s innocence as they have done since the beginning of the legal proceedings.

The case dates back to October 2016, when a twenty-year-old French woman filed a complaint accusing Lamjarred of raping her in a Paris hotel room following an encounter at a nightclub.

After several delays, including a postponement in June 2025 for further investigation, the court has now delivered this new verdict, sparking fresh legal debate.

This development coincides with other legal challenges faced by the artist, most notably the conviction of five individuals last April in a separate extortion case, and another five-year prison sentence handed down in May by a court in Draguignan regarding a similar rape allegation from 2018.

With these events, the case enters a new phase as legal proceedings move toward the Court of Cassation.