Moroccan YouTuber Jailed for Exploiting Child in Videos; Mother Also Sentenced

The verdict has been handed down. The criminal chamber of the court of first instance in Rabat sentenced the YouTuber who filmed a minor under 12 years old and published the videos live on Tik Tok, Youtube and Skype to four years in prison, reports the daily Al Akhbar. The child’s mother was sentenced to one year in prison, while a third accomplice received a six-month prison sentence. The latter two were also each fined 5,000 DH.

All three defendants were prosecuted for human trafficking, influence on a minor under 12 years old with weak discernment, and exploitation through live-streamed sequences on social networks. The child’s mother and the third accomplice were accused of failure to report a crime and financial remuneration. They are suspected of having received sums of money from citizens and residents in a Gulf country, including Moroccans.

The investigation conducted by the judicial police in Rabat, and particularly its unit dedicated to tracking down this type of crime, revealed that the YouTuber "approached the minor and took advantage of her young age and lack of maturity to take her home," before seeking the help of the minor’s mother, a woman known to have made several trips to the Gulf countries. A multitude of recordings downloaded by the investigators on the YouTuber’s channel "where many films featuring the victim were found among other images and films of the same kind" testify to the extent of this crime.