Moroccan YouTuber Surrenders After 7-Month Manhunt for Assault

Under a national arrest warrant, Ilyas Elmaliki surrendered on Friday to the Casablanca police. The streamer was immediately transferred to the city of El Jadida where he was placed in custody on the instructions of the competent prosecutor’s office. He appeared on Sunday before the public prosecutor’s office near the Court of Appeal of El Jadida.

The YouTuber had been wanted since last October after assaulting another YouTuber, Mohammed Touil alias "Simo Bourkadi" on the El Jadida corniche. While he was assaulting his victim with the help of two other people, a third person was filming the scene. The video of the assault, posted on social media, went viral.

The victim filed a complaint, leading to the arrest of Elmaliki’s three accomplices, while he had fled. The Court of First Instance of El Jadida sentenced the three defendants to three years in prison for "aggravated theft at night", "dissemination of a set of statements and a photo of a person without his consent in order to infringe on privacy and defamation".