Moroccan Singer Dounia Batma Remains Jailed, Denied Royal Pardon Rumors

Dounia Batma now free to move around!? While celebrity news pages have reported that the singer has been granted a royal pardon on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, and left the Al-Oudaya prison in Marrakech, it turns out that following the publication by the Ministry of Justice of the list of people pardoned by King Mohammed VI, the name of the interpreter of Kharboucha is not on it.

Dounia had been sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 10,000 dirhams in the "Hamza mon Bb" case. Last January, the judicial police brigade had arrested the singer in an apartment on Boulevard Moulay Youssef in Casablanca, where she had taken refuge after learning of the execution of the judgment against her. She had then been taken to the Oudaya prison in Marrakech to serve her sentence. The singer had meanwhile requested a royal pardon. Her lawyers had taken legal steps in this direction, but the court had rejected the request.