Behind the walls of Fresnes prison, south of Paris, Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred is facing what his legal team describes as his darkest chapter yet. Days after an appeals court extended his sentence to ten years with immediate incarceration, his lawyer has broken his silence on the toll the ruling has taken on the artist.
Attorney Wadii Al Hamamouchi, speaking after a recent visit to his client, said Lamjarred now spends « long hours crying, in a state of continuous collapse from morning until night. » The lawyer added that the singer’s health has deteriorated further under the notoriously strict conditions at Fresnes, widely regarded as one of France’s harshest correctional facilities.
On the legal front, the defense confirmed it will take the case to France’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court of appeal, in a fresh bid to overturn the verdict. Lamjarred’s lawyers continue to insist on his innocence in the so-called Laura Prioul case, named after the woman whose accusations led to his original conviction.
To back their appeal, the defense points to what they call significant gaps in the prosecution’s case. Central to their argument is a 2017 email they say points to blackmail attempts and financial settlement offers made by people close to the plaintiff. Lawyers argue this undermines the credibility of the testimony against their client, particularly since the plaintiff had previously stated she had no interest in financial compensation.
Nearly a decade after the case first broke, it continues to grip public attention in both Morocco and France. For now, Lamjarred’s fate hangs on the Court of Cassation’s next ruling, a decision that could either reopen or definitively close one of the most closely watched legal sagas involving a Moroccan public figure.
