King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced that he would bear the costs for the defence of the well known Moroccan pop singer Saad Lamjarred, who was charged with aggravated rape on Friday 28 November, AFP stated on Tuesday 1 November.

On Wednesday 25 October, a young woman filed a complaint against Lamjarred. She claimed to have been assaulted a few hours earlier by the singer, in the latter's hotel room near the Champs Elysées in Paris.

Evidence shows that the singer had consumed alcohol and drugs at the time of the crime. Lamjarred, who was supposed to perform on Saturday 29 October, was taken into custody by French authorities. 

According to the Maghreb Arab Press, an official Moroccan news agency, King Mohammed VI advised the performer's family to hire French lawyer Eric Dupont Moretti, who previously defended the king himself in a case of alleged blackmail against French journalists Eric Laurent and Catherine Graciet. The Moroccan sovereign announced that he has "decided to bear costs for the corresponding fees." 

Lamjarred was already involved in a similar case in 2010, during his visit to the United States, in which he still denies any implication. The singer was accused of beating and raping a woman from Brooklyn, New York and left the country after his release on bail.

Saad Lamjarred's music is very popular among Moroccan youth and in the rest of the Arab world. 

The pop sensation and occasional actor was born in Rabat, in 1985, to a family of artists. He rose to fame in 2007 after appearing in television show Super Star, and has since released three albums: Wala Aalik, Salina and Enti. He also acted in the Moroccan soap opera Ahlam Nassim, in 2011. In August 2015, he was decorated by the King Mohammed VI himself. 

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