Saad Lamjarred, a popular Moroccan singer, has been found guilty of raping a young woman in France and sentenced to six years in prison.
Once the verdict was delivered by a judge in Paris on Friday, Lamjarred, 37, displayed no reaction, according to French media. He was detained without delay.
He denied raping the woman in a Paris hotel in 2016 during a brief trial.
Arab music fans know Lamjarred well. More than one billion people have watched his viral video LM3ALLEM on YouTube.
The Moroccan king, who has given Lamjarred the nation’s highest honor, intervened to pay the singer’s legal costs when he was detained in 2016.
Many of the singer’s supporters asserted at the time that he was the target of an Algerian “plot” because of the country’s tense relationship with Morocco.
His dedication to the monarch in the first song he released following his detention also demonstrated how well-liked he remained, garnering over 140 million views.
If he intended to appeal the verdict was not immediately clear.
