Moroccan Singer Dounia Batma Arrested, Begins Prison Sentence in Marrakech

Since Wednesday, Dounia Batma is no longer free to move. After receiving the decision of the Court of Cassation to reject her appeal, the public prosecutor at the Court of Appeal of Marrakech instructed the judicial police brigade to execute the initial judgment and arrest the singer, according to the daily Assabah. She was arrested on Wednesday around 5 p.m. in an apartment on Boulevard Moulay Youssef in Casablanca, where she had taken refuge the day before after learning of the execution of the judgment against her. It is one of her friends who lives in the house. After her arrest, Dounia was taken to the Loudaya prison in Marrakech to spend her first night behind bars. She will have to serve her one-year prison sentence.

In July 2020, the interpreter of Kharboucha had been sentenced to eight months in prison, before the Court of Appeal of Marrakech extended her sentence to one year of imprisonment the following year. Seeking to cancel this sentence related to the "Hamza Mon bb" case, she filed an appeal with the Court of Cassation, which resulted in the rejection of her appeal. Following this rejection, she had requested a royal pardon without obtaining it. Recently, she claimed in an Instagram live that she had been the target of a plot aimed at ending her artistic career, but also of an "assassination attempt" after her car was hit by a stone near a bridge near Kenitra. She also assured that her ex-husband Mohamed Turk was involved in the plot against her, accusing him of having revealed her secrets and acting in exchange for money.

Also involved in the "Hamza Mon Bébé" case, her sister had already been incarcerated after also being sentenced to one year in prison. A stylist had also served the same prison sentence.