Moroccan pop star with 650 million YouTube views and awarded the country’s highest honour is arrested in France for alleged rape – his third sexual assault case in eight years
- Moroccan pop star Saad Lamjarred, 33, accused of rape in St. Tropez, France
- He is already facing trial in Paris over separate rape allegations from 2016
- In 2010 he was charged with raping a woman in Brooklyn, NYC, and fled the US
- He has 650million views on YouTube and was awarded a national honour in 2015
A Moroccan pop star is being held on suspicion of raping a woman in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera, his third arrest for sexual assault in eight years.
Saad Lamjarred, 33, who is already facing trial for aggravated rape and assault in Paris, was taken into police custody on Sunday.
He also narrowly escaped a rape trial in the US after allegedly raping a woman in Brooklyn, New York, after his accuser withdrew her co-operation with the investigation.
Alleged rapist: Moroccan superstar Saad Lamjarred, pictured in 2016, has been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera
Lamjarred is a superstar on the Arab pop music scene, with more than 650 million views on YouTube, 6.6million followers on Instagram and legions of fans which include the Moroccan royal family.
King Mohammed VI even awarded him Morocco’s highest national honor in 2015.
He was arrested in October 2016, having allegedly assaulted a 20-year-old French woman in a luxury hotel on the Champs-Elysee.
Repeat story: This is the third time Lamjarred, 33, has been arrested and accused of rape, and is still set to face trial over a 2016 alleged rape and assault at a Paris luxury hotel in 2016
He was charged with aggravated rape and assault, and the case has yet to be brought to trial.
In 2010, a grand jury in Brooklyn, New York, indicted him on 21 counts including rape, sexual abuse, sexual assault, and harassment.
Lamjarred posted bail and fled the country, and in 2016, the indictment was dismissed.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said the woman who made the initial complaint would no longer cooperate.
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