French Comedian Seeks Royal Pardon After Controversial Joke Lands Him in Moroccan Prison

After three refusals, Andra Matei plans to file a new request for a royal pardon in October, reports Le Monde. The lawyer of French actor and comedian Brahim Bouhlel, known for having played in Validé, still cannot digest the sentence handed down on April 21. "The prison sentence for a joke, however bad it may be, represents a deeply frightening threat to the exercise of freedom of expression for all," denounces the one who is also the director of Avant-Garde Lawyers, an NGO that defends the freedom of expression of artists.

It all started with a controversial video shot last April in a restaurant in Marrakech where the Franco-Algerian actors Brahim Bouhlel and Hedi Bouchenafa, and the Franco-Moroccan snapchatter Zbarbooking were in the company of three Moroccan minors. The video, which went viral on social media, caused an uproar. The persons involved had apologized, explaining that it was a "parodic" video. Placed in pre-trial detention the next day, the Validé actor and the influencer Sammy Tami had been sentenced on April 21 to eight months and one year in prison respectively. This decision was confirmed on appeal on May 31. Hedi Bouchenafa had meanwhile left Moroccan territory before the opening of the investigation.

Brahim Bouhlel and Zbarbooking are living in deplorable detention conditions "fifteen in a 30 m² cell," denounces Andra Matei. According to her, the judgment did not take into account the "right to freedom of expression". "It was an unscripted and unplanned sketch draft that my clients did not intend to post on the Internet. The video leaked, but this was not taken into account by the judge," she pleads. "My clients wanted to highlight the comic aspect of an otherwise tragic and sometimes difficult to express social reality, like sex tourism. Creating this gap is all the work of a comedian," the lawyer adds.