Tan-Tan – Moroccan singer Bachir Abdou has expressed disappointment with the country’s artists’ unions and professional bodies for not reaching out to his family following his son Saad Lamjarred’s 10-year prison sentence in France for “aggravated rape.”
In a social media post published Thursday evening, Abdou thanked his son’s supporters for their messages of sympathy and prayers during what he described as a period of deep pain and sadness for the family.
“Your support truly eases the pain and deep sorrow we are going through,” he wrote, thanking those who had offered their condolences and wished the family relief from its ordeal.
However, the singer’s father expressed regret over what he described as the lack of support from the heads of artists’ unions and professional organizations in Morocco.
“I am deeply disappointed that the heads of unions and artistic bodies in my beloved country, Morocco, have not stood by us during this ordeal, even by asking how we are doing as artists who belong to the Moroccan artistic family,” he wrote.
Abdou expressed his frustration with the perceived absence of professional solidarity following the court ruling against his son, one of the most widely known Moroccan singers in the Arab world.
The post comes amid continued public debate in Morocco over Lamjarred’s legal cases and the response of the country’s artistic community to his conviction.
Lamjarred sentenced to 10 years in France
On September 26, a French appeals court in Creteil sentenced Lamjarred to 10 years in prison, ruling he is guilty of aggravated rape in a case involving a French woman, Laura Prioul.
The case concerns an incident in October 2016, when Prioul, then 20, accused the singer of raping her in a Paris hotel room after they met at a nightclub.
Lamjarred had initially been sentenced to six years in prison in February 2023. The appeals court handed him a longer sentence and ordered his immediate detention. His defense team announced plans to challenge the ruling before France’s Court of Cassation.
Lamjarred has consistently denied the allegations in the case.
Other sexual assault cases
The singer has faced several sexual assault allegations in recent years. In a separate case involving events in Saint-Tropez in 2018, a French court sentenced him to five years in prison in May 2026 after convicting him of rape.
Lamjarred has also faced sexual assault allegations in Morocco in 2015 and in the United States in 2010, where a rape and sexual assault case was reportedly later dropped following a financial settlement with the accuser; the Moroccan case was reportedly dismissed after the complainant withdrew from the proceedings.
His legal cases have drawn widespread attention because of his popularity across the Arab world, where his songs have attracted millions of listeners.
